Somewhere I belong
by Miguela
Summary: 1XR Heero and Relena have parted ways, but when a new threat arises, will they be able to put aside the argument and work together? Will Heero's heart win the battle with his head? Will Heero and Relena be able to fight and win against this new threat?
1. Prologue

Full summary: Heero and Relena have parted ways, after she wanted to pursue a higher political career and he wanted to escape the public's eye. They parted on bad terms, but when a new threat arises, will they be able to put aside the argument and work together? HY x RP

**Somewhere I Belong**

**Prologue**

By Miguela

Heero sighed as he walked down the street towards his apartment. He'd just gotten off work for the day, working at the local Preventers building, creating security systems for the Preventers. His computer hacking abilities and Gundam pilot training also came in handy when on missions.

Heero jammed his hands in his pockets as he remembered when Lady Une had hired him; he had just moved to colony L1 – X24984 and was short on money. Since he didn't have anything of value that he was willing to part with for a few measly meals, and with work scarce on the old, rundown colony, money was short and hard to come by. He had managed to snag a job with a small computer technology company, making software for them. It didn't pay very well, considering the amount of time and effort that went into each program, but it paid for his meals and lodging, but not much more than that.

Then, one day, Lady Une decided to expand the L1 Preventers branch to include X24984 because of the amount of space available and the job rate very low on this particular colony as well as the crime, which was skyrocketing. It didn't take long for the Preventers to set up headquarters in an old warehouse and start recruiting people. He'd been walking by the building, marvelling at how they had patched up the rusting metal roof and the rotting wooden walls, when Lady Une walked out. He swore on that day that she had known that he had taken up residence on the old colony, and had extended the L1 branch to this old colony just so that she could recruit him into her service. Whatever her intentions were, she had recognized him, despite the changes that his features had undergone in the year that they hadn't spoken.

They had exchanged pleasantries there, in front of headquarters, as she steered the conversation towards employment. She had said that out of all the recruits that she had interviewed on the colony, none were qualified to be chief administrator of the new facility.

"They're all rookies," she had said, "Some with combat experience, but none with the leadership capabilities needed for the job." She had sighed, shaking her head, tucking an envelope under her arm. "And none of the other officers from the neighbouring colony wanted to transfer here."

"It really is a shame," he had said in his deep voice, wanting nothing more than to go home and sleep after completing a program in record time earlier that day. He was tiered, of all the useless work and nothing to eat.

"I have it!" she had proclaimed then, her eyes shining. "You could be the administrator; you have all the qualifications, and since I'm the one who appoints each administrator for each branch, I already know you're more than qualified for the position."

"I already have a job," he had stated in monotone. "I have to go now." He had brushed past her, continuing his walk home.

"Are you sure that you want to continue working for thieving dogs like Tech Corp.?" she had asked. "When you could be doing more important things, like keeping an eye on a certain politician?" He had stopped in his tracks and slowly turned to face her.

"And you're sure that no one will recognize me?" he had asked, meaning his identity as a Gundam pilot.

"My lips are sealed," she had said.

He had smiled faintly and had accepted the offer. That was three years ago. Now he was making more money than he had been previously, though that hardly mattered to him. He was able to keep an eye on Relena from afar, using his position as Lt. Commander to his advantage, by using the Preventer database to track her movements, read up on the bodyguards assigned to watch over her, and see how she was faring in life. He was always looking out for her well being, even if she herself never knew.

Relena… Just thinking about her, her slim figure, her bright smile, her powerful statements that brought the public to adore her, made his heart ache in loneliness, a void in his soul that was only filled when he was in her presence. He'd refrained from thinking of her for so long that he had forgotten how much it hurt to be separated from her by miles and miles of space and earth.

He shook his head to rattle the depressing thoughts loose. He would not sink back into a depression like he had three years ago. He'd gotten on with his life just as she had. He would be content watching over her from afar. They were not meant to be together, and it would stay that way.

In no time at all, he reached his apartment in the rural part of the colony which was once a dope town. He was glad to see that during the three years of the department's existence, his branch of the Preventers had cleaned up the colony of drug dealers and mob controlling. The population had swelled, with new housed built and the old ones made presentable. Even so, he knew there was much work to be done with the small amount of jobs and the many repairs still to be made on the other parts of the colony.

His apartment building was an older one, fixed up nicely over the years. It wasn't the nicest, for there were nicer ones on the other side of town, but it was cosy enough for his tastes, with nice neighbours and a decent neighbourhood.

He rang for the elevator, which promptly appeared with an elderly couple exiting and giving him a greeting. He bowed his head lightly in acknowledgement and continued into the waiting elevator, pushing the button for the third floor. Leaning back against the wall of the elevator, he let his thoughts drift yet again, running over the details of the day and the reports that had to be completed on the recent missions.

There was a steady stream of hate mail, from the colonies as well as earth, that was sent to his branch which showed some people's dislike of the massive drug busts on X24984 and their hate of the Gundam pilots. Though his real identity was never revealed, he took the letters as a personal insult, though his spirits lifted when they received an e-mail from a little girl that thanked the Gundam pilots for stopping the war for peace. He had secretly sent the e-mail to his own personal address to lift his spirits when he felt depressed.

The elevator doors slid open and he went to unlock his door, hoping for a good meal, a shower and some rest, but it never happened that night.

* * *

What do you think? I have decided to review this story and start making changes and correcting spelling mistakes. This story has been reposted so that I may be able to fix it. Please review so I can continue making changes to it. 


	2. It Starts Again

The elevator doors slid open and he went to unlock his door, hoping for a good meal, a shower and some rest, but it never happened that night.  
  
**Somewhere I Belong  
Chapter 1  
**_It starts again  
_By: Miguela  
  
Opening the door to his apartment, he inspected the locks before even stepping foot over the threshold, as it was his habit which he continued even after the end of the war. He remembered that Relena used to call it paranoia and simply barge in half the time, but this tactic had saved his skin more than once during the war. He then entered, kicking off his shoes so that they landed in a pile in the corner, unzipped his Preventers jacket and threw it over the arm of the faded couch, and went over to his laptop, which was set up on the counter so that he could make himself a meal and look at his e-mail at the same time.  
  
He threw the switch on the power bar next to the microwave, which turned on all the kitchen appliances, besides the refrigerator, and his laptop in one simple surge of electricity. He thought himself a genius by hooking up all the appliances to one switch to control the electrical bill, as he had done when he was making less than minimum wage an hour. Even though he now has one of the best paying positions in the Preventers, he never bothered to rewire the appliances.

* * *

He stuck his head inside the fridge, grabbed a can of Pepsi, and swung the door closed with his foot, going over to the bar stool before the portable computer as it warmed up. He cracked the can open, too a mouth full, and placed it down on the granite finish of the counter. He was rather fond of the counter tops, having refinished them himself after acquiring some money and time off from work. It was somewhat rough, but smooth enough for his liking.  
  
Typing in the passwords needed to get past the many firewalls, also left over from the war, he hooked up to the Internet and opened his inbox. He mostly received junk mail that went straight to his trash can, but today there was a different message awaiting him. It was encrypted, he soon discovered, and ran the deciphering program that he himself had designed. He soon discovered that it was from Wufei. Out of all the pilots, Wufei and Trowa were the only two he had kept in contact with over the years, and even then it had not been out of choice. Lady Une had recently assigned them to be part of the security detail protecting Relena at all hours of the day. He always got a message or two now and them from them, but it was strictly business, nothing personal.  
  
Today, it seems there was an assassination attempt on Relena's life. That caught the ex-Gundam pilot's attention, and he read the letter carefully. According to Wufei, a lone assassin attempted to shot Relena with a sniper rifle from a balcony at the summit meeting earlier that morning. Thankfully, Trowa and Wufei himself had been assigned to be her bodyguards for the event and Trowa had taken the bullet in the arm, hence saving her from any harm. The two of them had taken out the assailant, then ushered the startled politician from the room and into a waiting Preventer vehicle parked behind the building and whisked her into the main Preventers HQ in the area. That was where the e-mail had originated from, it seemed, as the encoding was the standard Preventer frequency along with the Gundam encoding that the pilots used during the war for all their messages.  
  
Heero ran a trembling hand through his long, shaggy brown hair. He was thankful Lady Une had assigned the two of them to her today, otherwise he would've lost her.  
  
He took another sip of his Pepsi. He would have to get into the Preventers database and find the report on the incident to find out how Trowa was faring, for Wufei didn't volunteer any information on how his arm was doing. Or he could just go to L2 – D23452 and find out for himself just how he was doing; he hadn't contacted Trowa in a while and he could use the vacation from his ordinary day. Maybe he might even see Relena... No, he shook his head, she told me that she never wanted to see me again.  
  
He logged on to a shuttle transit site and reserved a round trip flight to L2 that would be leaving in 2 hours.  
  
While on the shuttle, Heero plugged in his lap top and sent an e-mail to Duo, requesting a meeting in St. Cinnamon, a well reputed café in the centre of the prosperous colony, the next day. It was lucky that Trowa, Wufei and Duo were all on the same colony for the time being. While he was at it, he sent an e-mail to Wufei, requesting that he and Trowa meet him and Duo at the café ten minutes after the time he gave Duo. He wanted to catch up with his fellow pilots, and since he was the closest to Duo, he figured that they would want to chat longer than the other two would.  
  
After finishing that, he checked up on Relena via Preventer satellite. She was at a desk in Lady Une's office, writing down something on a pad of paper. He was of course using the security cameras to spy on her, but she was well aware that the room was constantly surveyed and would never know that he was watching her. He was glad to see, when he zoomed in on her figure, that she wasn't harmed, except for a slight bruise on her right arm which was probably from Trowa covering her and the two of them crashing to the ground when the shot rang out.  
  
He closed the link to the satellite and shut off his lap top, closing his eyes and resting for the remainder of the flight.  
  
Two hours later, he was awoken by the pilot saying to fasten their seatbelts and that they had arrived at the L2 colony cluster. He straightened from his slouched sleeping position and fastened the annoying seat belt and waited for the shuttle to be guided inside the colony by the tractor beams and the pilot's expertise. It was nice not having to disguise himself to get through security now, with a Preventers' pass to get through customs and security, and it wasn't a forgery either.  
  
He picked up his small duffle bad off the conveyer in the lobby, and then headed out through the main exit to hail a taxi. The rounded walls of the colony were just like the one he now lived on, though this one was newer and had less rust.  
  
As he was walking out, a man in a trench coat next to the doors spoke up. "You and your friends, the Gundam pilots, have less than 24 hours to surrender yourselves," he said in a drunken ramble. He reeked of alcohol and smoke, though his eyes weren't bloodshot. "If you do not obey, we wont miss your girlfriend Miss Peacecraft the next time." With that, he turned and fled down the street.  
  
Stunned, Heero ran after the strange man, dropping his laptop case - thank goodness that it was made especilally to protect the small computer from such rough treatment though he knew dropping it still wasn't very good for it - and his duffle bag, and pulled out the gun he kept in a holster under his jacket. It didn't take him long to catch up to the weaker man, ramming a shoulder into him and sending the two of them tumbling to the ground. Heero wrestled with the man until he gained the upper hand and wound up sitting atop him, gun pressed to the man's temple.  
  
"What do you mean 'you won't miss Relena the next time'?" Heero hissed at him, seething in rage from the run and the man's previous words.  
  
"I mean exactly that," he said calmly. "We'll kill her without a second thought if you all don't surrender yourselves." The smell of his breath was overwhelming, but Heero wasn't sure if it was from alcohol or not now. He scrunched up his nose in disgust.  
  
"You're under arrest for threatening a Preventers' officer," he replied, pulling out the handcuffs that were on his belt.  
  
"I don't think so," said the man under him, grinning a yellow grin of cracked teeth. Suddenly, there was a searing pain at the base of Heero's skull, his vision going black for an instant as he became disoriented. "Sweet dreams Gundam pilot," the man hissed as Heero toppled off of him, rendered unconscious from a second blow. 

He awoke some time later, to someone shaking him gently. "Hey man, are you okay?" Said a somewhat familiar voice.  
  
Heero opened his eyes slowly, his vision blurry, his head aching greatly from the slightest movement. Closing his eyes again, he just ignored the irritating voice.  
  
"Come on man, answer me," the voice persisted. "Talk to me; just say something!"  
  
"Ow," he replied, not moving from his prone position on the ground. There was a sigh of relief somewhere off to his right.  
  
"Thank God," there was a sigh, "Now let's get you out of here before something else happens to you." He felt an arm slip under his back, under his arms, as hands grabbed his own, hoisting him to his feet slowly. He was dizzy and disoriented, and had to lean heavily on the people helping to keep from falling over again. The world spun and he felt nauseous. He turned to the side and vomited all over the wall next to him, hoping no one was in the way.  
  
"Man, you're a mess," this time it was a female voice speaking to him. "What do you figure happened Duo?" That was obviously Hilde and Duo was the one helping him stand.  
  
"I don't know, but we had better get him to our place before he passes out on us," Duo said, and then turned his attention to him. "Are you all right now Heero?" he asked gently. "That's one heck of a wallop you got on the head."  
  
Heero pressed a hand to the back of his head and felt a wet, sticky substance coat his fingertips. Pulling away to look at it, he saw blood thickly coating his fingers. He groaned.  
  
"Do you have a car Duo?" he asked quietly, not feeling like walking to where they lived with double vision and a splitting headache.  
  
"Yeah," he replied. "Just down the street a bit. I'll ask Hilde to bring the car." He lowered his old friend down to sit on the sidewalk, placing the old duffle bag down next to him and his laptop case. "Just stay there for a minute and I'll tell Hilde."  
  
Heero nodded slowly and pressed a handkerchief to the top of his neck to stem the blood flow a bit. He knew that he would pass out soon, with the way he was bleeding and the way the world spun. Duo soon returned, as he was beginning to feel faint, and the nausea that accompanied a concussion.  
  
"Do you think that you'll be able to make it to our apartment?" Duo asked him gently.  
  
"Yeah," he mumbled. "And I want to take a shower."  
  
He could hear Duo start in disbelief. "You can barely stand on your own yet; let Hilde and I fix you up." Duo slung Heero's arm around his own shoulders, placing one around his waist to keep him steady, as a blue Toyota pulled up to the curb, Hilde behind the wheel.  
  
"Get in the back with him Duo," she said. "I need you to keep his head still and keep him awake while I drive."  
  
Duo nodded and opened the back door of the small car, helping his friend sit down on the soft seats. Heero leaned his head back on the headrest, closing his eyes. The colony just wouldn't stop spinning, no matter how hard he tried, and the intense headache didn't help any.  
  
"Hey man, don't go falling asleep on me yet," Duo reminded him, "We have to look at that wound yet."  
  
Heero waved him off, "I've had worse than this and still kept going," he reminded.  
  
"Yeah, like after the incident with Dekim, and how you hauled your ass out of Zero to go 'kill' Mariemaia and then fainted into Relena's arms," Duo laughed. "Yeah, and now you have a concussion."  
  
Heero growled. "I don't need to be reminded about that," he growled. "Relena and I are a thing of the past."  
  
"Aw, how come Heero?" Hilde asked from the driver's seat. "You two made a really nice couple."  
  
"I don't want to talk about it," Heero mumbled, slouching in his seat, resting his head against the window. "Wake me when we get there."  
  
"Hey man, I said don't fall asleep!" Duo shouted.  
  
"Leave him sleep Duo," Hilde scolded. "I guess he'll be all right, just make sure he doesn't have a fever and is breathing normally."  
  
"Do you know how hard it's going to be to monitor his breathing when he can slow it down to nothing and that would be considered normal," Duo complained loudly.  
  
Heero chuckled to himself, as he listened to the two of them bicker and drifted off into sleep for the short drive to the apartment complex where Hilde and Duo lived.

* * *

So? What did you guys think? Thank you so much to those of you who reviewed for the prologue; I wasn't expecting many, to be honest. Please keep those reviews coming to keep the inspiration level high and to get more new chapters! Again, thank you so much to:

RedLion2, shadowreader, crystal-gundam, Tail Fray, and Alexander Joseph for your support and lovely reviews. Please keep reviewing!


	3. Unexpected Action

Heero chuckled to himself, as he listened to the two of them bicker and drifted off into sleep for the short drive to the apartment complex where Hilde and Duo lived.  
  
**Somewhere I Belong  
****Chapter 2**  
_Unexpected Action  
_By: Miguela  
  
Heero awoke to someone shaking him again, and again it was Duo. He was still in the back of the Toyota, lying across the whole length of the back seat, with Duo shaking his shoulder from the front seat.  
  
"Hey man, time to wake up," he said cheerfully, smiling brightly. "We're home."  
  
Heero sat up slowly, feeling his back crack and his head pound. He touched the wound gingerly, to find that bandages had been bound around it to stop the blood flow. His hair was caked with blood, though it was crusty and dried, which was better than wet blood in his book. He was still dizzy but it was minimal.  
  
He slid out of the car, making sure not to hit his head on the way out – that just would be spiteful – as Duo held out his hand. Heero pushed it away, held on to the door of the car and helped himself stand.  
  
"I can walk on my own Duo," he said sternly. He stood up straight and noticed that he had grown a good head taller than the Deathscythe pilot. He glared at him, when he again tried to protest to his moving on his own.  
  
Finally, the braided pilot just shook his head. "Still as stubborn as ever and still have that really nasty glare," he commented, placing a hand on the back of his head. "You really haven't changed at all over four years, have you?"  
  
"I could say the same about you," he shot back, stepping slowly so as not to lose his balance and fall flat on his face. Wouldn't that just be lovely? A lt. commander falling flat on his face because of some stupid concussion; he would never be able to live that one down.  
  
"Really?" Duo asked in excitement. "I would've thought that I had grown more mature."  
  
Heero snorted. "If anything, you've gotten even more immature," he replied. He edged his way along the car to the brick building, where he used it for support.  
  
Duo cried out in outrage, "Yeah? Well, you're still that cold hearted bastard that I met five years ago."  
  
"Better believe it," he muttered, though a smirk was beginning to creep over his lips.  
  
Duo's jaw dropped. "Do I see what I think I see?" he asked in disbelief. "Is that a smile I see on the perfect soldier's face?"  
  
He glared. "Would you prefer if I held a gun to your head?" he demanded, angry more with himself than his fellow pilot as his vision shifted and he leaned heavily on the wall. As hard as I was for him to accept help from anyone, he would have to ask Duo to help him, as he was getting nauseous again.  
  
"Naw man, I'm just glad to see that you changed for the better, is all," he corrected. Duo must've sensed that there was something a miss with his friend as he slid slightly down the brick wall. "I think that you need a hand, man," he said, and Heero felt an arm slide around his waist, supporting him as his knees became weak. Heero said nothing to this, just accepted the aid of his friend. "You really have changed," Duo muttered in amazement. "Five years ago, you would've shoved me off by now and carried on by yourself."  
  
Heero groaned. "Whatever."  
  
Heero allowed Duo to assist him inside the building and as far as the apartment door. As the two of them walked down the halls towards Duo and Hilde's residence, Heero could hear several neighbours show concern over his state. He heard them say to Duo that he should get a doctor to take a look at him, while others said to get the paramedic that lived on the fourth floor. Duo thanked them for their suggestions, but said that he knew of someone who would take care of him.  
  
Heero was aware of someone taking his chin; the grip was firm but gentle. "He has a very bad concussion Duo," said an elderly lady. "You had better get him to lay down; he looks like he's about to black out."  
  
"Yes Mrs. McFarland," Duo said and the hand removed itself from his chin. "I will, don't worry."  
  
Finally, Heero felt himself being lowered down on a very comfortable mattress, the pillows fluffy and the quilt warm and hand stitched. "How's that pal?" Duo asked quietly. "I gotta go call Wufei and tell him what's happened."  
  
"Why him?" Heero managed to ask, peeping an eye open.  
  
"Because he knows the person I want to take a look at you," he replied smoothly, and walked out of the room, as Hilde came in with a glass of water in one hand and a first aid kit in the other.  
  
"Mind if I take a look at that wound of yours?" she asked.  
  
He shrugged. "Be my guest," he replied.  
  
She removed the bandages, throwing them in the trashcan, then washed the wound thoroughly. She was gentle, almost as gentle as Relena had been when she stroked his hair and whispered that she loved him dearly in his ear. He remembered that she would touch him as if he were made of glass, the same way he would touch her.  
  
Hilde told him of the times that Duo would take her out to dinner, hoping that he and Relena would be there, though they never were. She said how she missed seeing him around and how depressed Duo was after he left. He had the sneaking suspicion that she had wanted to tend him so that she could make him feel bad for leaving.  
  
Thankfully, Duo soon returned, portable phone in hand. "He asked to speak to you," he said simply. "Probably to prove that you really are here; I guess I played too many jokes on him."  
  
Heero smiled inwardly, though remained calm and stoic on the outside. He sat up slowly to avoid feeling really dizzy, and took the portable phone from his friend. "Hello?"  
  
"So you are there Yuy," came Wufei's smooth voice from over the line.  
  
"Yes Chang, I am here," he said, rolling his eyes despite his intention not too. "And my name is Lee Kodora; Heero Yuy was just a code name."  
  
"Whatever," replied Wufei, "but back to business: what happened to you? Maxwell mentioned that they found you unconscious in an alley."  
  
"Yeah, those same guys who tried to assassinate Relena came to meet me at the shuttle port and give me a warning," he said, looking around for his laptop case, and found it on the night table. "They warned that the Gundam Pilots have 24 hours to surrender or they wont miss Relena the next time."  
  
There was silence on the other end of the line as the former Altron pilot digested this information. "Where can we meet?" he asked quietly.  
  
"St. Cinnamon in two hours," he said, taking his laptop out of its case and switching it on. "We'll talk about this more in depth with Duo and Trowa and figure out what we should do."  
  
Again there was a pause. "Alright," he said finally. "But in the mean time, rest up."  
  
"I will," he reassured, typing in the passwords to get past the firewalls with one hand. "You and Trowa had better guard Relena well in the meantime."  
  
"We will," Wufei replied. "See you in two hours."  
  
"Yeah," he replied and hung up.  
  
"So?" Duo demanded immediately after he hung up with Wufei. "What's up?"  
  
"We'll be meeting him and Trowa in an hour at St. Cinnamon," he said, looking around for a phone outlet.  
  
"What?!" Duo demanded in outrage. "You're going to go to St. Cinnamon with your head banged up like that?"  
  
He glared at his friend out of the corner of his eye. "They wont stop trying to harm Relena if I'm injured Duo," he said, being the voice of reason. "We have to get these guys; I will not kill another man for peace when I have already done so countless times."  
  
It was all so true; how many times did he listen to the pilot in the enemy mobile suit scream in pain and fear as they were incinerated and blown to pieces to become space debris. He always listened to the audio of each enemy suit so that he would be reminded that it was another human being that was dying at his hands. He refused to be like others and forget altogether the human factor, though he had had no mercy for the mobile dolls, machines that killed mercilessly that were like toys for the Romefeller Foundation to turn the tides of the war with. They, the Gundam Pilots had foiled that plan by destroying them all.  
  
A hand on his shoulder tore him out of his thoughts. He looked up to see Hilde's kind, smiling face. "How about something to eat Heero?" she asked. "You must be hungry after your flight."  
  
He thought for a minute, but his stomach was the one to decide that it was hungry, as it growled loudly at that precise moment. He laughed slightly at the irony, though he declined her generous offer.  
  
"Thank you Miss Schpiker," he said, managing to lean off the bed he was sitting cross legged on and plug in the adaptor of his laptop as the battery sign flashed in the corner of the screen. "I'm afraid that if I eat something, it might go to waste, and I wouldn't want to waste any food."  
  
She got the hint. Heero knew better than to eat after receiving a concussion, for it creates nausea.  
  
"All right, then would you like something to drink?" she asked, taking the glass that she had brought in with her in hand. He accepted it, and drank deeply, feeling refreshed and hydrated after doing so.  
  
"Thank you very much Miss Schpiker," he said, returning the glass to the end table.  
  
"Call me Hilde," she replied, packing up the first aid supplies and taking the glass in hand again, to be returned to the kitchen. "Don't work too hard now Heero; you're supposed to be resting."  
  
"My name is Lee now Hilde," he replied. "Heero Yuy was just a code name; my birth name is Lee Kodora."  
  
She nodded. "I know, but I like Heero Yuy better, it suits you; the name of a colony leader who fought for peace."  
  
He smiled softly as she shut the door. That was true, so many people had relied on him to bring peace back into their world, and the code name that the scientist, Dr. J, had given him had rang true. He guessed that somehow he knew that he would turn the tides of the war and that he needed a suitable name, unlike the name Odin Lowe, an assassin that had taken him under his wing when he was young, had given him, Odin Lowe Jr. Relena also thought that as well, telling him to find out his real name instead of relying on the code name. He had done so, and had found that his real name was Lee Kodora, from colony L1 – X11574, which had been destroyed earlier in the war.  
  
He had joined the Preventers using his real name, though his credentials weren't all that real: he hadn't graduated from high school, though he could've passed the final exams in all classes with the highest marks, and he didn't have a college degree in anything, even though it was all marked down on paper that he had. Lady Une knew precisely how intelligent he was, which meant that when he had applied, he had done so through her.  
  
He surfed the net for a bit, via his cell phone, looking for a schedule of Relena's stops on her promotion campaign, which he saved to the hard drive, then began typing a formal report on the attack on him to be filed against the new renegade group. He knew that Lady Une would have something to say to him about filing reports when he should be filing a request for leave so that he could rest, though he never cared for such things. He had gotten shot in the shoulder on one mission dealing with a local mafia group and he came into the office the next day, arm in a sling, filing his report that he had typed the previous night while waiting in the Preventers' hospital. She had forced him to take two days off, and wouldn't accept the report. He had thrown it on her desk and stormed out, going back to bed for the next two days.  
  
He had never taken a day off since, not even for vacation. He didn't know what he was saving his days off for; he never went anywhere. He guessed that he would have to take a couple of days off to be with Hilde and Duo, and hang out with Trowa and Wufei and maybe even visit the always busy Quatre, but nothing more than that. I wont go and visit Relena, he swore to himself. She told me not to come back.  
  
He finished his report quickly and slept on the comfortable bed, nothing like his own bed back in his apartment, until Duo knocked on the door and told him that it was time to go and meet Trowa and Wufei at St. Cinnamon.  
  
I didn't take long to get to the crowded café on the main street of the colony. This was the spot where everyone went for the best cinnamon rolls in the whole earth sphere, homemade and made fresh each day. The café was old styled, with pictures of the original St. Cinnamon, founded in 1992, 278 years earlier, when the family still lived on earth. It was lit with low hanging lamps and candles at night, and the display case was always full of fresh baked cakes and pastries for the numerous customers to marvel at.  
  
Trowa and Wufei were sitting at a booth close to the door, chatting quietly when Heero and Duo arrived. Heero had taken off the bloody bandages in the car, much to Duo's disapproval, and had walked into the café with mussed up hair, having had to fight with it to get it off in the first place.  
  
"I thought that you had a head wound Yuy," Wufei greeted them.  
  
Heero glared at him. "My name is Lee, Chang, how many times do I have to tell you?" he snapped, though it didn't have its usual edge.  
  
"Until I can remember to stop calling you by your code name," he replied.  
  
Heero looked over at Trowa, whose arm was in a sling and he seemed slightly dazed. Must be the medication he'd been given, he thought, the same nasty stuff they gave me. He remembered that he wasn't able to see straight for weeks after taking the strong pain relievers that he'd been prescribed after getting shot.  
  
A waitress came over to take their orders, handing out a menu for each of them. Wufei ordered a large plate of home fries and a hamburger with a glass of water; Trowa wanted a glass of water and a cinnamon roll; Duo wanted a Pepsi and a slice of pizza and Heero ordered them same – it seems that he and Duo had the same taste in food.  
  
After that was settled and the waitress had gone to place their orders at the kitchen, Wufei brought out a manila folder, which he handed to Heero. "This should have all the information on that new group that we could find," he said. "They seem more capable of causing major damage than the other small groups that have popped up over the years."  
  
Heero placed the folder in his jacket, having large secret pockets designed for such things. "Thank you, I'll look at it when I get to a more privet spot," he replied.  
  
The four of them then started chatting about random things, like how Duo was thinking about proposing to Hilde when his job as a mechanic and repair man picked up and he had saved up enough money for their dream wedding and honeymoon. Then it switched to Wufei's relationship with a Chinese girl from the Preventers' branch on L5. He said that he was thinking of moving in with her, or vice-versa. Then it went to Trowa, who still hadn't found anyone that he thought he would spend the rest of his life with, though he was looking hard. And finally, it turned to Heero.  
  
"So, how are you and Relena doing?" Trowa asked in his soft voice.  
  
"Yeah, come to think of it," Wufei added, "I haven't heard any mention of you from her in a good while."  
  
Heero shrugged. "I guess we weren't meant to be together," he said noncommittally. "She wanted to go into politics and I wanted to go into hiding so we went our separate ways."  
  
The other three were stunned by this announcement, and stayed silent for several minutes. This unnerved the waitress slightly as she set the food and drinks before them and not even received so much as a thank you or acknowledgement from any of them.  
  
Heero was reminiscing about his time with Relena, all the times he had watched her from a distance, and all the times he had been brought out in the light with her, as her date or as a bodyguard. Even though they seemed perfect for each other, there was a flaw: she liked to live in the open while he still preferred to live in the shadows. He didn't like publicity of any sort; it was bad enough when he had to give a statement for his branch every once in a while and a camera was shoved in his face.  
  
Then she had started insisting that he always be right next to her, as her boyfriend. He had like the idea, it was a dream come true for both of them, but he didn't want to be with her, in the spot light all the time. It was because he didn't like being the centre of attention all the time and because if anyone ever found out that he had been a Gundam pilot she would become the prime target. Even though he had disappeared rather thoroughly, she was still being threatened because of him. He frowned, and noticed that a large slice of pizza was sitting in front of him.  
  
They ate in silence; Heero's constant glare, aimed at the table, was too fierce for any of them to endure, so they let him think. When they were finished, Wufei and Trowa took their leave after paying the bill split between the four of them.  
  
"Hey, Lee?" Duo prompted. "Are you ready to heard back?"  
  
Heero looked up from glaring at the floor, startled out of his thoughts with the mention of his real name. "What?"  
  
"I asked if you were ready to get back," Duo repeated, gesturing towards the parked car.  
  
"Yeah," he replied, feeling a slight headache coming on. He guessed that he had over done it by coming, even if it was just for a half an hour.  
  
As they approached, they could see something on the ground beside the car: it looked like a present wrapped in sliver wrapping paper, though Heero knew better.  
  
"Duo, there's a bomb," he said urgently, throwing out his arm and catching his friend in the chest.  
  
Duo looked over towards his car, and, sure enough, spotted the package. The two of them jogged over to it, being precautious for it was ticking rather loudly. Heero noticed a note attached to it with ribbon that read: Dear Gundam pilots, we see that you aren't taking us seriously enough. This should change your thoughts and any doubt that won't carry out our threat of killing Relena then each of you at the end of 24 hours. Heero crushed the note in his fist.  
  
He looked at the wrapping paper, trying to find a way to defuse the bomb before it annihilated the colony. He saw a switch on the side, but at first glance he knew that it was a decoy by the way it had been put in plain sight. He didn't touch it, just in case, and just looked for any tears in the paper. He found one near the edges, where wires were visible. He hadn't had extensive training in bomb diffusion, though he knew enough, or hoped he did, to defuse this one. It was homemade, from the sloppy way the wires were attached.  
  
"Duo, find me a pair of wire cutters, would you?" he asked, looking at the wires to determine what one would be the best to cut. Duo brought him the cutters, and he picked out a red wire. He snipped it, hoping that he had snipped the right one. There was a click from the inside and the ticking stopped.  
  
Heero wiped the beads of sweat from his forehead and pulled out his cell phone and pressed the speed button for Lady Une's cell phone. He listened to it ring, and a rather frustrated 'Hello?' on the other end.  
  
"Lee Kodora reporting in," he said, and heard her sigh in relief.  
  
"Lee, where are you?" she demanded. "All the rookies are panicking because they don't know where you went after work. Your apartment's been blown to smithereens."  
  
It was his turn to sigh. Of course Duo's car wasn't their main target; they wanted him to be scared and what better way than to destroy the place called home? "I figured as much," he replied. "I just defused a bomb that was placed beside Duo Maxwell's car. I'm on L2, in front of St. Cinnamon. Were any of the other tenants hurt in the blast?" Call me sentimental, he thought, but I don't want any of them to get hurt over me.  
  
"No, the only thing destroyed was your apartment; everyone else is safe," she reported. "We've evacuated the building and have started clean up."  
  
"Alright, I'll stay here and look after Relena," he replied, straightening from his crouched position next to the car. "Call me if there's anything."  
  
"Alright," she hung up, terminating the conversation.  
  
"Looks like I'll be staying here for a while Duo," he told his friend. "My apartment's been blown into oblivion."

* * *

A/N: I didn't get any reviews for the first chapter. It wasn't any good? Please, give me some inspiration; leave me a few words on whether or not it was any good. There wont be any updates for the next two weeks (I'm going to China for two weeks!!) though I will post more chapters when I get back. That's a promise! 


	4. Facing the past

"Looks like I'll be staying here for a while Duo," he told his friend. "My apartment's been blown into oblivion."

**Somewhere I Belong**

**Chapter 3**

_Facing the past_

By: Miguela

The ride back was silent, as Heero poured over the information Wufei gave him, taking in the information at first glace. He was like a sponge, absorbing all the useful information plus a few tidbits that may prove to be useful. He gave a short account for what he found to Duo as they approached their destination.

"They call themselves the Black Wolves," he said, handing Duo a forensic picture of a tattoo found on the body of the would-be assassin. "According to forensics, they all sport a tattoo of a black wolf's head howling on their right shoulder blades, which should make it easier to find their members." He flipped through some sheets. "We haven't determined their motive yet, though we know that they demand the surrender of the Gundam pilots and the Preventers and are willing to go to any measure to get what they want."

"Yeah," Duo muttered, "like kill Relena and you and everyone off one by one."

Heero glared at him. "Yeah, but we've got to make sure that Relena stays alive;" he looked down in resignation, "the rest of us don't matter that much."

Duo pulled into the apartment parking lot, and parked the Toyota in the designated spot. Then the two of them collected the papers that had somehow gotten scattered around, and placed them back inside the folder and headed up the apartment.

Heero's thoughts were whirling with all the information that he had absorbed in the car, and the recent events with the bomb scare. What was the point in surrendering themselves and the Preventers to those psychopaths? What did they hope to accomplish by doing that? Maybe try and control the world or something ridiculous along those lines though he knew that nobody would be stupid enough to try something like that. Though it had happened before many times in the earth's history and again with the colonies, so it was a possibility.

When they entered the apartment, they found Hilde watching the news, which was featuring Relena's campaign tour again, as it had been for the last week or so. Heero took a seat on the couch after hanging up his jacket in the closet and kicking off his shoes. He always watched the news at this time, and there was always something on Relena.

"Foreign Minister Darlian will have four more stops on the colonies, on the L3, L4, and L2 clusters where she'll be making public appearances and speeches regarding her plans to help the colonies as well as strengthen their relations with the earth," said the news anchor. "She had received outstanding support from the public and is viewed as the favourite coming down to the last two weeks before the Election Day. Her rival, Minister of Defence Chambers, has had many strong supporters from the earth, though he is not smiled upon by the colonies."

"So, who do you want to be President of the Earth Sphere, Lee?" Duo asked sarcastically, "That phoney Chambers or Relena?"

"Relena of course," he replied without hesitation. "She is always doing what's best for the Earth Sphere, even if it means that she'll have to put her own needs aside."

Duo stared at him in amazement, then slowly smiled. "I figured as much."

The reporter then when into a detailed analysis of both candidates, outlining their qualities and flaws, and this was when Heero took his leave, heading to the solitude of his room to place a search of the web on the Black Wolves on his lap top.

Putting his favourite CD in the drive, he plugged in his headphones, and then clicked play. While Linkin Park played softly in the background, he hacked into countless databases, searching for anything to do with the tattoo found on the dead would-be assassin or the Black Wolves' organization. He searched for about a half an hour, when he found something that perked his interest: there was a high-level security encryption placed on a site that had BW written on the corner of a totally white web page. In the bottom corner was a blue box where a writing cursor appeared.

Hoping this was his lucky break, he ran his decoding program that he had designed, and waited. It took ten minutes, but he was in, and the information that he needed ran across the screen. He copied it all to a floppy disk he had popped in just in case he found something like this, and closed the window as quickly as he could, then disconnected his cell phone with lightning speed, then sat back and breathed a sigh of relief. He now had all the information he needed, though the question was, could they stop them before their plans fell though?

Collecting the disk, he went out to see Duo and Hilde. "Duo, I have something you need to see," he said, pocketing the disk in his shirt pocket. He found them right where they had been when he had left, watching T.V.

"What is it man?" Duo asked; he had his arm draped around Hilde's shoulders as they sat on the couch. "Did you find something useful?"

He nodded, and pulled out the disk. "A lot of useful information that could help us eliminates this Black Wolf organization before something drastic happens." He went over to their home computer and popped the disk into the drive, opening the program on the screen.

Curious, Duo and Hilde came over, still arm in arm, to watch him work with nimble fingers.

Finally, four pages of information popped up, all about the Black Wolves. "According to this," Heero explained, "The Black Wolves are planning to try and start a revolution that would put them in place as the rulers of the new world they create."

Duo snorted. "Doesn't that sound just like someone else we all know and hate?" he asked sarcastically. "Namely Dekim Barton?"

Heero shook his head. "They don't plan to use military force, but underhanded schemes, to gain the upper hand. They are all specialists in bombs, especially nuclear bombs."

"Well that should put a dent in things," Duo said. "How about those assassination attempts on Relena?"

"I couldn't find any link as to why they want Relena dead, and us out of the way," he confessed. "The only reason I could think of is that they might want to use Relena as a hostage or something."

Duo scratched his head in confusion. "Makes sense... What are we going to do now?"

"We guard Relena," he said firmly. "No matter what."

With the plan of action in mind, Heero and Duo set off to the hotel where Relena was staying for the night, which was on the same colony that Duo and Hilde lived on.

During the long drive across the colony to the hotel, Heero thought about how Relena would react to seeing him again. If she hadn't changed during the four years, she would squeal and glom all over him before he even had a chance to get in the door. But if she had matured at all, she would politely welcome him, and a slight blush would creep up over her cheeks as it always did when she was close to him. She had seemed to become more resigned as the years wore on, facing the reporters with a calm smile, and never losing her cool or nerve.

He smiled to himself. Maybe she would forgive him for leaving... Maybe they would 'kiss and make up'... Maybe they would live happily ever after...

It was then that he noticed Duo's hand waving frantically in front of his face. He slapped it away, glaring. "What is it Duo?" he snapped, frustrated that he had cut into his musings.

"There's a song playing that I want you to hear," he said, taken aback by his companion's surly mood. "But if you're going to take my head off because of it, then I wont bother."

Heero frowned. "Sorry, I was just thinking..."

"Thinking of Relena, right?" Duo taunted, then soon regretted saying it, as Heero's fiercest glare yet was fixed on him. After all those times that he had stared back into those blazing cobalt eyes, Duo not once flinched, though he knew that this time he had struck a sensitive spot, and knew also that Heero meant war if he continued to poke his nose in their business.

Duo glanced away, shivering involuntarily at the coldness of his friend's gaze, and then changed the subject. "Anyways, here's that song I wanted you to hear." He turned on the stereo, popping in a CD, and hit play.

Heero was quite enchanted by the song, an old song from the 21st century, though still a good song. He knew from the instant he heard it, that he wanted to get that CD from Duo somehow. The song went something like this:

Remember me...

Remember me...

Find myself all alone

In darkness without you

Now I can't turn away

From what I must do

You know I'd give my life for you

More than words can say

I've shown you how to love someone

I know you'll find the way...

Say goodbye, close your eyes, remember me...

Walk away, the song remains, remember me...

I'll live on somewhere in your heart...

You must believe...

Remember me.

The way I could change my mind

I don't have the answers

If you could see through my eyes

You'd let go of your feelings

And though I have to leave you now

We were born of each other

I'll miss your touch; you'll count on me

I'll be with you for ever...

Say goodbye, close your eyes, remember me...

Walk away, the song remains, remember me...

Ways of change we can't explain, remember me...

I'll live on somewhere in your heart

You must believe...

Remember me...

You know I'd give my life for you

More than words can say

And I've shown you how to love someone

I know you'll find the way...

Say goodbye, close your eyes, remember me...

Walk away, the song remains, remember me...

Be there to watch over you, remember me...

Feel un-gone, my heart lives on. Remember me...

Don't you think of this as the end

I'll come in through your dreams

Remember me...

Close your eyes

Say goodbye

Remember me

Say you will, say you will, say you will, close your eyes,

Remember me... Say goodbye

Say you will, say you will, say you will, Say goodbye

Remember me...

Heero felt emotions serge through him after the song had finished. All the emotions that he had ever felt for Relena, all the trust, all the love, all the pain he felt when he thought of how he had to leave her as she had told him, welled up in his chest in one strong serge of emotion the like of which he had never felt before. He felt right then and there that he really did want to follow what was said in the song about protecting her and wanting to be in her heart forever.

"Where did you find that, Duo?" he finally asked after he had calmed himself enough to speak clearly.

Duo shrugged. "Actually, it was Hilde who found it on one of her old CDs. I just kinda borrowed it from her." He smiled at his best friend. "Do you like it? I thought that it suited you and Relena perfectly."

Heero didn't know what to say, but just nodded.

"You know Heero, I bet Relena really does miss you," Duo said, turning into the parking lot of the hotel Relena was staying in that night. "I bet she'll be really happy to see you."

Heero snorted. "I highly doubt that Duo," he said, closing his eyes.

"Why's that?" Duo demanded. "Come on man, you can tell your best friend what happened, can't you?"

Heero pondered this for a minute, as Duo parked the car next to a Preventers' van, and then said, "Maybe another time Duo."

But Duo wasn't one to give up that easily and stilled pressed on. "Well then, at least tell me why you don't think she'll be happy to see you after three years."

"Because she told me that she never wanted to see me again," he said simply, and exited the car, hoping that Duo would just drop the subject for the time being. It was still a very sensitive matter, even after so many years, and he just wasn't ready to talk about it with anybody, least of all Duo, who was known to run his mouth from time to time.

As they walked to the elevator, Heero reminisced about the time that he and Relena had parted ways...

He and Relena we getting along great; they had become very comfortable with each other, and he had even started to open up to her more frequently, talking about the training that he had undergone to be a Gundam pilot, and the treatment he had received, and the nightmares it had caused. She had shown sympathy and understanding, and listened to his ramblings without making any comment. When he was done talking for the night, she'd put her head on his shoulder and offer her silent support.

He was even planning on marrying her one day; he truly believed that they would make each other happy to the end of their days, but that fantasy only lasted for so long. He finally got to see the other side of Relena, the controlling spoiled brat her parents had made her into by giving into her every whim. She would demand more of his time, stopped listening to his ramblings by cutting him off, or walking away to attend pressing business with other colony and earth officials. She was consumed by her job and had less time for him, and the time that she did have to spare she spent doing paperwork or writing speeches. He was put on the back shelf as her career took centre stage.

He confronted her one day about her work habits.

"Relena?" he asked cautiously, poking his head around her door and into the room; he never bothered to knock anymore. He found her at her desk, pouring over a huge stack of papers, a cup of tea cooling beside them.

She glanced up, blinking twice, then turned her attention back to her paperwork. "What is it Heero?" she all but snapped, scratching something down on her paper and taking a sip of her tea.

"I think that it's time we talk," he said gently, moving towards her slowly, unsure if she would get up and snap as she usually did when she was disturbed.

She shrugged. "What do you want to talk about?"

When he thought about an answer, he realized that he was unsure of how to confront her about his feeling of being shut out of her life. He decided that there was no sense in beating around the bush and said as plainly as he could, "Do you like your work more than me?"

He realized that he sounded like a lost little boy, but that was how he felt. She had told him not to shut away his feelings, so he didn't try. He just left them out in the open, plainly readable on his face.

She looked up and stared into his eyes. "Why would you think something like that, Heero?" she asked, her tone sounding more like a businesswoman and less like the friend he had thought her to be.

He sighed; might as well come out and say it, he had thought. "Because you've been working a lot harder at your job than at our relationship," he said plainly, and he thought of kicking himself right then and there for how stupid it sounded, though he couldn't take the words back.

She stared unblinking at him. "What do you want me to do Heero?" she demanded, her tone now sounding cross. "Quit my job so that I can baby you all day?"

He growled threateningly low in his throat. "No, but I do like to spend time with you once in a while," he replied.

"Well you can't have your cake and eat it too," she shot back. "If you want to spend more time with me, then why don't we announce publicly that we're a couple and you can spend all public outings with me."

"I already said that I didn't want to do that," he replied, sitting in a chair across from her. "It would only cause problems."

She scoffed. "You sound like a spoiled kid Heero, saying that you want me to spend more time with you when you have the perfect opportunity to be my boyfriend in the public's eye and now be frowned upon. If you don't want to make sacrifices then I don't think that we should be seeing each other anymore." His heart sank, but he understood her reasoning. Now she sounded like the spoiled brat, but he didn't say anything. "But I warn you Heero, if you leave, I don't ever want to see you again as long as I live."

He packed his duffle bag that night, and as he was leaving, Relena called out, "I don't want to see you ever again, Heero Yuy!"

He hadn't seen her since, moving to L1 and never moving from there. He had obeyed her wish and had left Wufei and Trowa be her personal bodyguards, and the matter had become a thing of the past for both of them.

Now he was being forced by a new threat to come back into her life and be hurt yet again. No, he vowed to himself as the elevator doors opened on the floor that Relena's room was situated, I won't be used again.

He held his head high as he headed down t her room, his best friend at his side; he went to face the woman that had broken his heart.

* * *

Sorry it took so long for me to update this. I hope that you all enjoy this chapter and hopefully I'll have the next one posted soon.


	5. It Hurts to See You

**WARNING: This chapter contains major action and blood. **

He held his head high as he headed down t her room, his best friend at his side; he went to face the woman that had broken his heart.

**Somewhere I Belong **

**Chapter 4**

_It Hurts to See_ _You_

By: Miguela

The corridor was lined with Preventers in uniform, all grim looking and wary. They eyed the two companions as they strode down the hall.

"These guys give me the creeps the way they keep starin' at us," Duo whispered.

Heero nodded slightly, but kept silent. He knew that they'd have no trouble getting into Relena's room, what with his rank and that she knew the two of them very well... At least she knows Duo, Heero thought sourly, how can she know me if I don't even know who I am?

When they reached her suite, a guard stepped into the doorway to bar their entrance; he was big and burly, easily twice the size of Heero, with rippling muscles that looked like he was about to bust a seam in his Preventers' jacket.

"State your name and reason for coming," he said, crossing his arms imperiously over his large chest.

"Hee – Lt. Commander Lee Kodora and Special Lt. Duo Maxwell," Heero said, catching himself before he said his code name. "We're old friends of the Foreign Minister." He didn't want Relena to recognize him that easily. She'll see that I've changed, he thought to himself as the guard pulled out his two-way communicator and relayed the two names to the Preventers inside the room, confirming the two to be really old friends of their charge.

"Can I see your identification cards please gentlemen?" he asked, clipping the two-way communication to his belt.

Heero pulled out his card that he kept in his wallet. A Preventers' id card was especially formatted so that they could not be copied no matter how hard a person tried; in order to pass through security, you needed the card, which had an electronic strip on the back, and needed a fingerprint from the holder to complete the identification. People had found out how to copy the card, but the fingerprint was an entirely different matter.

The guard pulled out the proper scanner, and he and Duo had their cards and prints matched, then the large guard knocked twice, and stepped aside. "Miss Darlian is waiting for you," he said and opened the door for them.

Heero and Duo wasted no time in stepping inside, and the door closed behind them and locked leaving them in the same room with about a dozen other Preventers' officers, including Wufei and Trowa, who were standing off to the side of Relena's huge desk, and the Foreign Minister herself. She was sitting at her desk, though she wasn't doing any paperwork, but rather was just staring idly at the stack of paper that sat on the corner of the polished mahogany desktop and made no move what so ever that indicated that she was going to much more than that.

Duo practically bounded over to her, planting both hands firmly on the edge of the desk, and leaning over to stare into her eyes, though she didn't seem to notice at all, still lost in her own little world.

"Hey there Relena!" he chirped happily, waving his hand in front of her face to get her attention. "We're here!"

Her eyes snapped up to stare Duo in the eye. "What are you doing here?" she asked in amazement, rising from her chair. "I thought no one was allowed to come in?"

Duo shrugged. "We thought that you could use some company besides grumpy security guards," he replied, seating himself on the corner of her desk.

"Who's 'we' Duo?" she asked in confusion. "I don't know anyone by the name of Lee Kodora; is he a new friend of yours?" She folded her hands in front of her, playing the part of a refined politician the way she had many times before while meeting with the press and other important figure heads. Heero was used to seeing that position, one that didn't suggest that she held power, but that she was just a spectator to everything.

Duo chuckled. "Sure you do, it's just been so long that you may not recognize him, is all," he replied, and gestured to Heero, who was calmly standing near the door with his thumbs hooked in the pockets of his pants. He would've preferred to remain invisible to her eyes, though now that she was staring right at him, he knew that just wasn't going to happen.

Tears welled up in her eyes as she looked upon him for the first time in three years. She strode past Duo, her hands clasped to her chest, eyes full of tears and wonder. "Heero..." she whispered softly, coming up in front of him. She unclasped her hands, one waiting to touch his cheek, though she seemed to change her mind half way there, and slapped him as hard as she could, making his face whip to the side and his cheek sting. "How dare you come back?" she demanded angrily. "I thought I told you that I never wanted to see you again?"

He was stunned – he never knew that Relena could hit, let alone hit with that much force – as he stared at her in amazement. His hand came up to touch his cheek gingerly, feeling it sting.

Duo stared at the two of them. "What in the Hell was that?" he asked, preferring not to get in this lovers' quarrel, valuing his life far too much to be that dumb.

She glared at him with the utmost loathing. "Why did you have to come back?" she demanded, turning away from him, tears beginning to leak out of her eyes.

"It's not like I had any choice," he shot back heatedly. He felt his temper flare and he remembered that it was for this exact reason that they hadn't seen each other for the last three years. "I can't let you be assassinated, now can I?"

"I don't know Heero," she retorted, "can you let me be assassinated? It wouldn't really matter anyways; I'm only another one of your missions, so my feelings don't really matter, now do they?" She spun back to face him, blue eyes blazing. "Not like you cared before."

He was pissed. After all the things he did for her, all the sacrifices he made, she dare say that he didn't care at all about him? He glared, and he was sure he could see her shiver slightly under his intense gaze. "How would you know if I cared or not?" he hissed. "You never really paid attention to me to see if I really did care or not."

She matched his glare. "Well you sure as Hell didn't come back to make up with me," she countered. "Why don't you just stop trying and do your _job_?"

He grit his teeth in frustration, but he knew that she had won the verbal battle, though he knew also that the war had only just begun. "Fine," he growled, then stalked over to a chair over in the corner and sat down, crossing his arms over his chest and glaring at all present, while Relena went back to her desk. Relena one, Heero zero.

The two of them didn't speak to each other for a long time, and poor Duo, who was stuck as the middleman in this situation, ran between the two of them, trying to coax the two of them into another conversation, though they steadily declined each offer.

Growling out of frustration after two hours of trying to get the two of them to even speak to each other, Duo sat down in the seat opposite Relena, who was now furiously working on her paperwork. She would sneak a glance up every once in a while to see if Heero was still sitting across the room from her, and then she would get back to her work without a word.

Finally, she looked up and glared intensely at him, "Would you stop staring at me?" she snapped irritably. "You haven't stopped staring for the last two hours!"

"I'm doing my job," he retorted. "That is what you told me to do, so I'm doing it."

She sniffed angrily, and then turned back to her work. Heero smiled to himself; Relena one, Heero one.

Finally, Duo couldn't stand the silence any longer, and got up to stretch. "You guys act like a couple of children," he said, popping his vertebrae. "Why can't you two get along for once? You're stuck together until this threat is over with, so quit being so stubborn."

Heero snorted. "I'm not the one who started this," he said, closing his eyes coolly.

"And I'm the one that did?" Relena shot back. "You're the one who asked if I loved my work more than I did you, for crying out loud!"

"Hey!" Duo raised his voice and drowned her out. "Look, can you guys just get along for a few minutes, or that too much to ask?"

"I'll cooperate, so long as it doesn't involve talking to her," Heero replied smoothly.

Duo groaned in frustration and buried his face in his hands, "You guys are hopeless!"

Time passed slowly after Duo's outburst, with Relena finishing her paperwork, and Heero beginning to pace around the suite. Something about the stillness of the hotel disturbed him deeply. There were other tenants in building, though none of them even tried to come and get a glance at the Foreign Minister during their time there.

Feeling rather paranoid, Heero decided to go for a walk to get away from Relena and to clear his head.

"Duo, could you watch Relena for me?" he asked, checking to make sure that he had enough ammo for his gun, and that he had his id card.

"Where ya goin'?" Duo asked from his slouched position in the armchair.

"I'm just going to get some air," he replied, but decided not to make any snide comment at this time.

"'Kay, hurry back," he replied.

Relena watched him leave, as she headed into her room to change into her pyjamas.

Heero walked down the corridor yet again, past the silent Preventers, and to the elevator. He pushed the button and waited impatiently for the elevator to arrive.

Why does she insist on being so stubborn? Heero thought angrily. I thought that we could get past that silly argument, that's all it was really, just a bump in our relationship. Why did it have to become a mountain?

He mulled over the last couple of hours in his head while the elevator doors slid open, revealing a soul occupant inside. Not paying him any heed, Heero stepped in and pushed the button for the first floor. It was only after the elevator doors had slid closed that he finally glanced at the other passenger, and he was startled to see who it was.

The bloodshot eyes of the drunkard that had warned him at the shuttle port stared back at him from under a wide brimmed hat. "You don't listen very well," he said, and the elevator was filled with the smell of alcohol. "I said that you are to surrender yourselves and the Preventer organization or we will retaliate. Now you'll pay the price." He pulled out a detonator from the inside of his trench coat. "When I push this button, the whole building will be blown to smithereens."

Heero's throat went dry when he thought at the devastation that would cause, but he kept his cool, glaring at the shorter man. "But if you push that button now, you'll be killed in the explosion as well," he reasoned. "What would be the point of that?"

"My life is insignificant; all that matters is that Relena Peacecraft be killed so that we may rule the new world," he replied slyly.

He realized then that he was dealing with a madman, one that would go to any measure to get rid of Relena Darlian Peacecraft. He also realized that he had to stop him from pushing that button at all costs. He pulled out his gun out of his holster, clicking off the safety and aiming it at the madman's head threateningly.

The man scoffed. "Is that the best you could do Gundam pilot?" he asked mockingly. "That puny thing wont be enough to stop my explosion."

But Heero wasn't thinking of killing the man, but just throw him off balance enough to make him drop the detonator, and give him a chance to stop the impending doom of the explosion. Though this gamble also had a flip side to it; if the detonator dropped from his hand and fell on the button, or he pushed it out of reaction, they would all be reduced to particles, but it was a chance he had to take. He aimed his gun at the automatic breaking system in the elevator, knowing full well that if he shot it, the breaks would bring them to an abrupt halt in the elevator shaft, jarring the occupants off balance. He took the chance, and fired a single shot, hearing the hiss of air escaping inside the damaged panel, and then felt the car grind to an abrupt halt. He was expecting the stop, and immediately clicked the safety on his gun, as it flew out of his hand, as the detonator flew out of the madman's hand.

He held his breath, as the small device flew into the wall and fell harmlessly to the floor. Both occupants had been knocked to the ground, and now they both scrambled for the gun, trying to gain the upper hand. Heero lunged for the detonator, while the madman picked up his gun and shakily stood up.

"Nice try Gundam pilot, but I'm afraid that your efforts will be wasted," he said slyly, clicking off the safety on the gun. "I have now gained the upper hand, and by exterminating you, one phase of our plan will be complete."

Heero stood up slowly, the gun training over his heart the whole time, but he wasn't intimidated in the least. He waited for the shot to be fired, so that he could rush the fool and knock the gun away. Then he would seize the upper hand in this fight.

As anticipated, he began to squeeze the trigger, and that set him into motion. He sidestepped, the bullet going through his right side to embed in the metal wall behind him, then brought his fist up in an uppercut, catching the guy off guard, having expected to kill him with one shot, and winding him. He grabbed the gun with his free hand, wrestling it away, and training it over the guy as he doubled over clutching his abdomen.

Heero breathed deeply, feeling the bullet dig into the muscle of his abdomen, though he did his best to ignore it, placing a hand over the wound to stem the blood flow, even though it hurt like Hell to do so.

"It seems that I've gained the upper hand now," he said smoothly. He watched as the man glared at him, as he regained his breath.

"That wont matter much," he replied calmly. "Your resistance will be futile in the end anyways, when the master and his friends come to crush you all with their brilliance."

Heero came closer, gun barrel just inches from the cowards face. In one swift motion, Heero hit him in the temple with the butt of the gun, and he slumped motionless to the floor.

Signing, Heero clicked the safety back on and stuck it back in its holster. He slumped back against the wall opposite the collapsed form of the would-be terrorist, clutching the wound at tightly as he could. Having damaged the breaking system to the point of no repair, he was stuck in the elevator with an unconscious body for a good while.

He pulled out his cell phone, having thankfully stuck it in his pants pocket earlier, and found the number for Duo's cell. He pressed send and waited for Duo to pick up.

"Hello?" came the voice of his friend over the line after a couple of rings.

He knew that his predicament would sound very pathetic, but he really didn't care at this point, what with the way his blood was pooling on the floor beside him. "Duo, I'm stuck in the elevator," he said quietly, sliding down the wall to sit on the floor. Then he was at a loss on how to explain his situation now; his personal pride as one of the best soldiers in the world prevented him from coming out and saying that he was injured, though he knew also that it would be an insult to his pride if he bled to death in an elevator. "Have some of Relena's guards throw a rope down."

"How in the Hell did you manage that one?" he asked in disbelief.

"No time to explain Duo," he said quickly, "Just do it."

"'Kay, I'm on it," he replied, and Heero terminated the call.

His thoughts began to drift as he thought about how Relena would react to seeing him bleeding, judging on her previous reaction to seeing him again. She would probably make a fuss about the way he was bleeding profusely and that it he could've taken care of the threat without having to knock him out. It was just like her to say that they could've solved almost any situation without having to use violence, though he knew that there had been no way that he could've solved this diplomatically. If the guy had blown up the hotel many innocent people would've been hurt, including Relena – though, he thought viciously, he wasn't sure if she counted as an innocent person.

Out of boredom, and the fact that he could feel himself becoming light-headed from losing so much blood, he pulled out the detonator that he had stuck in his pocket for safe keeping. He checked the bottom to find that there was no remote transponder attached, which meant that it couldn't have blown up any bomb for there was no bomb attached to be blown up; it had all been a hoax. He swore and jammed the thing back in his pocket.

By this time, he could hear the grinding of gears as the doors on the third floor were pried open and the thud of a rope being tossed down on top off the elevator resounded. Voices reached his ears as two distinct people climbed down the rope and landed with a thud on the metal roof of the elevator. The top hatch was pried open and the faces of Duo and Wufei appeared in the opening.

"Hey man!" Duo called down cheerfully. "Miss us?"

Heero couldn't help himself and rolled his eyes sarcastically. They hopped down, and went to examine the unmoving form of the madman. They were busy checking him for vital signs, until they noticed the blood trailing down the floor, and the blood splatter on the wall.

"Heero, man, what happened?" Duo asked in concern, staring in concern at the blood pooling from his friend's side.

"The fool had a detonator and threatened to blow up the whole building with it," he explained tensely, pressing his arm as hard as he could against the wound. "I shot the ABS and it stopped the elevator, which caused him to drop the detonator and I my gun. He picked up the gun and this is the result."

"We had better get you out of here," Wufei said urgently and pulled out a communicator, signalling to the others on the floor above that there were wounded and to bring down a first-aid kit.

They decided to get him out first, since the other guy didn't have any life threatening injuries, though Wufei cuffed his hands behind his back just in case he came too while they were getting Heero out. It was an extremely difficult task to accomplish at that, having to tear off the beige t-shirt to have access to the wound to bind it. Since Duo said that he wasn't any good at tending to wounds, Wufei volunteered for the job, strapping Heero's side tightly, though not too tightly. Heero didn't make a sound throughout the whole time, though he did grimace when Wufei pressed a little bit too hard.

"Think you can make it up the rope?" Wufei asked, though Heero suspected that he already knew the answer to his question.

"Of course I can," he snapped impatiently, and even if he couldn't, he would try his best to get up without any help, though he didn't think that would go over well with Relena. To Hell with what she thinks, he thought bitterly.

He pulled himself up out of the whole in the ceiling, grunting with the effort it took. Once he was up, he gripped the rope and began to hoist himself up, pulling himself up towards the light at the top of the rope. His palms were beginning to sweat, as he continued to hoist himself along the shaft; he was almost at the edge of the open door.

Two Preventers were waiting at the top for him, extending their helping hands towards him, and he grudgingly accepted their help as he felt himself become light-headed. They pulled him up and out of the shaft and supported him slightly while he tried to find his footing and not fall flat on his face.

"Heero, what happened?" Relena's voice cut through the fog in his brain.

He waved her off, stumbling over to a wall, away from the helping Preventers, so that he could sit down before he fell down. He found a sturdy section of the wall that was free of decorations, and slid down along the length to sit at its base, leaning his head back and breathing deeply.

He felt a soft, feminine hand take his and squeeze it tightly. "Stay awake Heero," Relena said softly. "Sally will be here soon to take care of that wound."

His eyes snapped open, surprised yet again by her actions, which demonstrated that she had grown up more than he was giving her credit for. Her face showed deep concern, her eyes full of worry.

"Why are you worried about me?" he asked in astonishment. "I thought that you didn't care..."

She smiled softly. "You risked your life to protect everyone, so I think I'll repay you," she said simply, and he began to seethe yet again.

"Like if a dog does a trick, you'll toss him a bone?" he retorted, jerking his hand out of her grip.

She looked offended. "No, it's not like that at all..." she said softly, her eyes radiating hurt. "I feel obliged to help you after you saved everyone, but," her eyes hardened, "If you don't want my compassion, then I'll save it for someone who isn't pigheaded."

He sighed. "Fine," he replied coolly, "I'm glad you're safe." Out of the corner of his eye, he saw her face brighten.

* * *

Thank you so much to all of you who reviewed! You've given me much inspiration to write this chapter! Please keep the reviews coming to keep the inspiration high!


	6. Aftermath of Injuries

He sighed. "Fine," he replied coolly, "I'm glad you're safe." Out of the corner of his eye, he saw her face brighten. Relena 2, Heero 1.

**AN:** Thank you Red Lion 2 for pointing out that I forgot to add up the points at the end of the chapter. And thank you to everyone who reviewed; I'm so happy!

**Somewhere I Belong**

**Chapter 5**

_Aftermath of Injuries_

By: Miguela

Heero and Relena sat together quietly out in the hall, Heero fighting to stay conscious and Relena talking to him about anything to keep his from falling unconscious. She talked about her campaign, about her daily life, and then asked all sorts of questions about him and how he had been making out during the past three years.  
  
He groaned inwardly, slouching back against the wall, closing his eyes yet again. "Relena, how about I tell you about my life when I don't feel like passing out at any given moment?" he suggested, feeling his wounds throb painfully.  
  
He could feel her eyes on him. "How about you lay down Heero?" she suggested. "It would be easier on you in the long run."

He contemplated that for a second as he felt Relena's gentle hand on his shoulder. The offer was too tempting to pass up, and slowly, with her help, he laid down along the wall though he felt something soft under his head. He opened his eyes slowly to stare up into her smiling face; his head was resting in her lap.

"You looked like you could use some rest," she said simply and blushed slightly at his curious look. "This was the least I could do."

Not going to complain, he closed his eyes tiredly, resting fully. He knew that if Duo or the others caught sight of the two of them together like this, he would never be able to live it down, but at that split second he really didn't care what they thought about them; she felt sorry for him and wanted to help.

He had dozed off slightly, Relena toying with his hair, when Sally, who had started to strip away the bandages that Wufei had tied to stem the blood flow, awaked him rather unexpectedly. The blood had stuck the gauze to the wound and peeling it away was a rather painful affair, and he was instantly startled awake when Sally had begun to work.

"I'm sorry Heero," Sally said gently, "But it has to be stitched before it gets infected."

He started to sit up, but Relena held him down by placing both hands on his shoulders. He sighed, groaned, and lay back while Sally worked, defeated by the two stubborn females. If it was one thing that he had learned throughout the time that he spent with Relena, it was to let the women win when it came to physical fights. He relaxed as Sally wiped the blood from the wounds and had Relena thread a needle to stitch them closed.

"This might hurt a bit," Sally said, and he knew what was coming, as this wasn't the first time that this had happened, and as predicted, he felt the pick of a needle as she began to stitch up the hole. She pulled the wound closed, which caused his muscles to tighten out of reaction, and that caused pain to spread across his whole abdomen.

Sally made quick work of the wound, trying off the string and taping gauze over the stitches, wiping the blood from the surrounding skin. Relena stroked his hair the whole time, whispering soft reassurances that he really didn't need to hear, though he welcomed them all the same.

"There, now to take care of the exit wound," she said, pulling away from him. "Could you sit up?"

Heero groaned, and pulled himself up, feeling the pull of the open wound stretch on his back, just below his rib cage. Warm blood flowed down his back freely, staining the top of his pants. He heard Relena gasp from behind him as Sally took her place behind him to tend his wound.

"You're very lucky that that bullet didn't hit anything vital," Sally said, sewing up the second wound skilfully. "You would've been in a whole lot of trouble if it did."

He groaned, as she pulled a little too hard. With these two new wounds, practically his entire torso was covered in scares, from his self-detonation, from being shot on random missions and from the final explosion of the Wing Zero during the Mariemaia incident. He had a large scar on his right arm, where a piece of shrapnel had stuck in the muscle after his self-detonation. Trowa had pulled it out after he had rescued him and brought him to the circus where he was hiding; he had told him afterwards that it had taken thirty stitches to sew the wound together afterwards.

Sighing to himself, he felt Sally snip the thread she had been using and tape gauze over the wound like she had done to the first hole. He then felt a finger trail across the head wound that he had gotten from his first encounter with the psychopath, who he could see was being hoisted out of the elevator now.

"What happened here, Heero?" she asked curiously.

"That guy right there," he jerked a thumb in the general direction of the elevator, "meet me at the spaceport, gave me a threat, then knocked me unconscious."

"That's where Hilde and I found him," Duo quipped, having joined the conversation, as did Wufei, as the other Preventers' officers took care of the rogue from the elevator. "Passed out and bleeding everywhere in an alley."

Sally sighed in resignation. "I want to take a look at that while I'm here, if that's all right with you Heero," she said and began cleaning away the dried blood that caked his hair.

He shrugged. "Doesn't matter to me," he replied indifferently. "What are a few more stitches?"

Sally took her time examining his head wound, poking around the base of his skull, massaging every once in a while, and finally declared that he wouldn't need any stitches. "You do have a minor concussion though, so rest a lot during the next few days," she said simply, wrapping a strip of bandage around his head. "Other than that, you're in perfect physical condition, same as the first time I examined you, though we were far from friends then."

Heero smirked. He remembered when he was trying to blow Wing up after crash landing into the ocean and Duo had shot him, thinking that he meant to kill Relena, and she had in turn helped him. She had brought him to an Alliance medical facility, where Sally Poe had been stationed. She was right; they had been far from friends then, though now he really didn't mind her tending to his injuries as she just had.

As for him being in perfect physical condition, that was due to the Preventer Training Program that he had his branch do every week. He participated to show that no one was excluded from the ten-kilometre run, the obstacle course, and then a 10-lap swim in the pool afterwards. This entire course was set up near the centre of the colony where it was open to the public with daily camps for children and spectators' stands so that anyone could watch their training and give the cadets incentive to beat their superior, who was about half the age of most of the men.

"Why don't you come into my room and rest there, Heero?" Relena suggested. "That way, Une wont say that you weren't doing your job."

He snorted. "Une would've sent me home long ago," he said simply. "She said that an officer couldn't concentrate when he's injured. She made me take two days off work when I got shot on a mission," he pointed to an old scar on his shoulder, "and I was perfectly fine."

She smiled at his energy. "Come on then," she said, rising slowly for she had been sitting on her feet for a while. "Why don't we get out of the hall?"

He rose as well, careful not to agitate the gunshot wounds any more than they all ready were. He followed her stiffly, becoming slightly light-headed; he ran a hand along the wall to keep his balance. He scowled to himself over how weak he must look, as he tripped over his own two feet and stumbled slightly towards the door that Relena was unlocking with her key card. He caught the doorframe to refrain from ploughing head on into her and held on for all he was worth.

She looked at him quizzically. "Are you all right Heero?" she questioned, opening the door and turning to him. "Would you like some help?"

He shook his head stubbornly. "I can manage on my own thanks," he said gruffly.

She frowned but let it be. She strode inside, followed by Heero, whose vision was beginning to blur and he became unsteady. He stumbled yet again, though this time there was nothing for him to hold onto to steady himself, and he fell into Relena, knocking the two of them to the ground.

She cried out, out of instinct, as she sprawled out on the floor, a dazed and disoriented retired Gundam pilot on top of her.

After hearing her outcry, the others rushed into the room to see what had happened. After catching a glimpse at what had happened, Duo burst out laughing. "Geez man, you couldn't even wait to make it to the bed before you pounced on her? Have you no shame?"

Heero growled low in his throat. "Duo, if I could see straight, I swear I would make you eat those words," he snapped, rolling off of her to land with a thump on the floor. His head was spinning, which made it feel like the floor was sliding out from under him.

"Sorry man, I just couldn't resist," he replied, helping Relena up off the floor.

"Heero, are you all right?" she asked, touching his shoulder gently. He groaned in response. "What happened?"

He supposed he owed her an explanation, after flattening her for no obvious reason, though he knew that he'd never be able to live it down with Duo around. "I tripped," he muttered, embarrassed at his own stupidity. Duo cackled hysterically in the background. He shot the Duo multiples a fierce glare and attempted to sit up on his own, and succeeded after much after and agony due to his injuries. He sat panting and groaning on the floor, his side pulsating rather painfully, though he just ignored it.

"Are you all right?" Relena asked yet again, offering him her hand.

He growled out a "Fine" and stood up on his own, not bothering with her help. It took much effort on his part, using a nearby desk as his support, his side screaming protests at the movements. Sally was in the doorway by then, frustrated at how he was straining his injuries so soon.

"You'll pull those stitches right out if you're not careful Heero," she reprimanded. "Then it'll take longer for it to heal."

He snorted, and wobbled over to the bed before he fell again; he breathed deeply as he sank down on the edge, leaning his elbows on his knees. "So long as I can still fight these guys, it really doesn't matter if I'm wounded," he replied, as Relena came over and sat down beside him. "This matter is becoming out of hand."

She looked at him with sympathy in her eyes. "Why don't you rest for now Heero?" she suggested. "There are enough guards here to protect me while you sleep."

He shook his head. "I need a computer first, so I can try and figure this out," he said simply.

"But your injury-" she protested, but he cut her short.

"I need to do this if I'm going to sleep peacefully," he said, slowly standing up yet again. His vision was still doubled, though he wasn't about to let that and a little light-headedness stop him, and made his way over to the desk. He pulled a piece of blank paper and a pen towards him and began to jot down events and things that they knew about this new group, the Black Wolves. He wrote in Japanese, needing the practice and because Relena couldn't read it over his shoulder.

As predicted, as soon as he started to write, she came around behind him and looked over and made sounds of disapproval at his choice in language to write in. He smirked to himself. Relena 2; Heero 2.

He wrote down the strange drunkard that they had arrested and his threats, and then he wrote down the information about the man's master, though it wasn't very much. He added the bit about the Black Wolves all being specialists in the making of bombs, and trying to start a revolution by using underhand schemes, though he still couldn't find a reason as to why they would want Relena out of the way. The more he puzzled over the problem, the more his head pounded, so he finally gave up and stuck the paper with his spidery kanji in his back pocket and stood yet again.

Relena had gotten into her pyjamas by the time he had finished writing. She was checking things with Lady Une via a vid-phone on the end table next to her bed. She hung up just as he came over to her.

"Lady Une said that you're to rest, or you'll be suspended from work," she informed, and rather smugly too. He scowled and cursed his superior silently; how dare she command him to rest when he was perfectly able to continue his task without difficulty. Okay, well maybe a bit of difficulty, he had to admit. The bandages around his stomach were beginning to stain red from all his moving around on his own accord, and his head was pounding rather insistently now.

"What else did Lady Une command me to do?" he asked, sinking down on the edge yet again.

"Nothing really," she said, lying down behind him. "She said that your apartment is being cleaned up nicely, though no clues as to who the bombers were have surfaced."

"I already know who the bombers are," he replied.

"Oh," she said simply. An uncomfortable silence followed afterwards, Relena fiddling with the tips of her unbound hair and Heero trying to come up with someway to find these guys.

"Heero," she said after a while of thought, "Why did you change your name?"

"Lee Kodora is my real name, where Heero Yuy is just a code name," he replied simply. "Dr. J decided that the name of a pacifist would suit a killing machine."

She looked at him with pity echoing in her eyes. "You shouldn't say that about yourself," she said gently, placing a hand over his. "You fought to protect the colonies, and you still do."

He snorted. "Yeah right," he snapped. "I've done more shit than all these rookies combined." He eyed each one of them in turn, crossing his arms over his chest, sizing them up and finally concluded that none of them could've been a Gundam pilot, though he knew that a couple had been Oz or Alliance soldiers during the time of the war. They began to sweat and fidget under his intense blue gaze, so he let them be. "None of the could've been Gundam pilots from the way they act."

"And what would you know of being a Gundam pilot?" a rather cocky new recruit asked. "We could've been Gundam pilots for all you know!"

He fixed the young man with a death glare. "I know that you wouldn't have the guts to self-detonate," he replied in an icy tone. "You wouldn't have lasted five minutes."

The young man bristled, then smiled rather smugly. "I bet you were that murderous 01 pilot," he said thoughtfully. "The one who killed without a thought, and some say that he even laughed after he killed."

It took a lot of will power to hold himself back so that he wouldn't go over to the cocky youth and wring his neck just to prove him right, but then the three years that he spent hiding the fact that he had been a Gundam pilot would've been in vain. Never the less, his eyes narrowed further. That caused the youth's grin to widen.

"So you were 01," he said in amazement. "Your stunned silence says it all."

Heero was ready pound the arrogant young man into the ground. He rose to his full six feet, two-inch height, and stared angrily down on him. "If I was 01, it wouldn't take much to squish you right here and now," he hissed. "Then we wouldn't have to hear you mouth off to your superior anymore."

This quieted the young man, and he sat back down, his temper having grown short. He was glad that he hadn't fully lost control or they'd be short one bodyguard.

Whispers from the guards stationed in the room began as they whispered amongst themselves, which was grating on his last nerves. There goes his little secret that he had managed to keep hidden from the world for three years, even if it couldn't be proven that he had been a Gundam pilot. Why is it that he can never just keep his mouth shut from time to time? If this kept up, he would become as bad as Duo for just blurting things out without thinking first.

He groaned and laid back, his injuries finally catching up to him.

There was a light tap on the door, and Duo stuck his head in, braid smacking up against the doorjamb with violent force. "How are you two making out?" he asked cheerfully, inviting himself in. This caused Heero to groan even more; Duo's perkiness just wasn't suiting him right this instant, as he just wanted to fall asleep and not think twice about it.

"We're just peachy Duo," he replied, closing his eyes. "What do you want?"

"I've just come to tell ya that we took that strange guy into custody," he said, practically bouncing on the balls of his feet, just bursting with energy. Heero wondered briefly where he got it all. "We brought him for questioning, though so far we haven't been able to get anything out of him besides this," he handed his friend a slip of paper with Japanese kanji written on it. "And also, that's horribly written – hope you can understand it – cause my Japanese sucks really bad."

Heero nodded. "Thanks," he replied, and slipped the paper into his pants pocket. "Anything else?"

"Nope," he replied. "I'll see you guys later; I'm just goin' to search the parameter."

"All right," Heero closed his eyes again, "Take your time."

Duo left, locking the door behind him.

* * *

Again, thank you soooooo much to all of you who reviewed! I'm so happy! Sorry that this chapter's a little short; I'll try and make the next one a bit longer. Review and tell me what you think should happen next!


	7. The Morning After

Duo left, locking the door behind him.

**Somewhere I Belong**  
**Chapter 6**  
_The Morning After _  
By: Miguela

Heero and Relena were left alone after Duo left. When Relena wasn't looking, he took out the paper that Duo had left for him, pulling it open where, sure enough, there were a few kanji written in Duo's messy handwriting. He had to blink a few times to try and read what was trying to be said. In very broken Japanese, Duo had written what looked to be: 'the master will destroy all who oppose him' and 'beware the master's wrath'. Though with Duo's limited Japanese vocabulary and grammar, it was more like 'Master will destroy oppose' and 'beware master evil', though he got the message clearly.

Heero lounged on Relena's bed, staring up at the ceiling while Relena read one of her romance novels to herself, chuckling once in a while to herself or frowning, depending on what was going on in her book. He found it quite relaxing; lying near the foot of the bed as he usually did when they were in bed together. It was just kind of strange, being with her and all after so many years.

Finally, after a while of reading, Relena clicked off the lamp on the end table, announcing that it was time for bed. She pulled the covers up over herself and snuggled under them, sighing contently as Heero scooted up to take the empty spot nest to her, since he was still near the edge of the bed. He lay on top of the covers, staring up at the ceiling. It didn't take long for the two of them to fall asleep, though somehow during the remainder of the night Relena migrated over to his side of the bed, laying her head on his bare chest like she used to do when they were together. He woke up to her gentle breath tickling his cheek, her body pressed tightly next to his while the blankets were thrown on the floor beside her. He was still in the same place he had fallen asleep, though she had somehow managed to tear the blankets out from under him as well.

There was some smothered laughter coming from the corner of the room where Duo sat on a chair, fiddling with the tip of his long braid. His face was red with the effort to keep his laughter contained, though he was failing miserably at it. He burst out laughing after Heero glared rather menacingly at him.

He finally calmed down, wiping the tears out of his eyes. "Sorry Heero man," he said between gasps, "You two just look too cute for words is all."

Heero glared at him with all the strength he could muster. "You're lucky that I can't move that fast Duo," he said menacingly, "Or I would strangle you with that braid of yours."

Duo clutched his braid to his chest. "To Hell you will!" he shrieked, which caused Relena to wake up. She rubbed her eyes blearily while Duo ranted on. "That would be a horrible way to die!"

"Well then shut up," Heero said lazily, "I'm sore enough without having to get a headache listening to you."

He slowly inched his way to a sitting position using his hands and elbows; his side had cramped sometime during the night, making it extremely painful to move, though he did so anyways. Relena was sitting up under the covers, rubbing her eyes blearily, by the time he had managed to get himself somewhat sitting up.

"Good morning Heero," she said, brushing her hair back from her face. "Did you sleep well?"

He nodded hesitantly. "Yeah…"

Duo was laughing again. Heero glared at him, more forcefully than the last time.

Relena smiled at his look, "How are your injuries this morning?"

He shrugged, "Not to bad, I guess…"

Relena frowned now. "Why don't you try to make an effort to make conversation with me?" she demanded. "Here I am trying to be nice and you give me the cold shoulder." Her tone was reaching a wailing pitch, almost a desperate tone, though he knew that she was trying to make him feel bad.

Again he shrugged. "You didn't want to work on our relationship three years ago, so why start now?" he demanded.

"Because what I said before was selfish, and I want to try and mend things between us," she said, almost pleading. "I don't want things to be this way between us."

He snorted. "You should've thought of that before you said that," he replied and swung his legs over the edge of the bed. "I've already tried to mend things with you and you didn't want to, so I've given up."

Her expression, which he caught out of the corner of his eye, was shocked. "You don't mean that," she whispered. "You can't…"

"I sure as Hell can," he snapped, though it was starting to pain his heart and soul for saying such cruel things to her, even if it had been how he felt back then. "I may have had feelings for you before, though I sure as Hell don't have any now." Heero 3, Relena 2.

Her face fell and she looked away. "If you don't care, then why are you still here?" she asked quietly. "I thought that you didn't care what happened to me…"

"I never said that I didn't care what happened to you," Heero retorted, "I said that I don't have any feelings for you; the world needs you to continue your efforts with the peaceful resolution to problems, since you're the only one who can do so without causing another war."

She frowned deeper, "I see, then I had better get ready for my morning meetings then." She slid off the bed, still with her usual grace and confident movements that had convinced so many to follow her cause. Her confidence dispelled everyone's doubts, filling their hearts with the hope needed to live in a peaceful world.

He sighed at slowly attempted to stand up, though he had more difficulty than he originally thought that he would have, his legs not as strong as he would have thought. His knees buckled and he had to grip the end table before he fell face first to the floor for the second time in two days. The world spun as he held on for dear life, becoming nauseous again. He felt a soft hand on his back as he slid to the floor, trying to control his urge to throw up right then and there.

"Maybe you should lay down again Heero," Relena said gently. "You're not well at all…"

He shook her hand off, "I'm fine," he said stubbornly, but just as he said it, a chill coursed through his body, raising goose flesh on his bare arms and chest.

"As if!" she replied angrily, "You're sick! Lay down before you hurt yourself more than you already have!"

She grabbed his arm and attempted to pull him up on the bed, with little success; he would not budge for her, and she finally gave up when his shoulder joint cracked loudly. She gave a frustrated sigh, letting him slump against the end table for lack of strength. "You're hopeless!" she cried in exasperation. "You wont even help yourself!"

He groaned at her high pitch. "I would if I could, but I can't, so I wont…" he muttered, closing his eyes as another wave of dizziness overtook his senses. He felt strong hands grip his arms, hoist him to his feet, and helping him sit on the edge of the bed.

"You should be resting man," Duo said, a sympathetic note in his voice. "You look like you're sick with the flu or something."

Heero snorted. "I never get sick," he replied matter-of-fact. "I have a very strong immune system…"

Duo snorted this time, "As if that makes any difference," he retorted. "You're injured and that causes anyone's immune system to become weak. Just relax for a minute or two would ya?"

Heero sniffed slightly, still very dizzy from his sudden movement from the floor to the bed.

"You could use a break from work anyways Heero," Relena said, tugging on his shoulders slightly, "Just lay back and relax, okay?"

He shrugged out of her grip. "I'm fine," he insisted through clenched teeth. "It's nothing…"

Wufei butted into the conversation this time, "Why do you have to be so stubborn Yuy?" he asked, "Just do as the woman asks; it's just that simple!"

Heero groaned. If only it were that simple… He sighed. "Did Lady Une call this morning?" he asked blearily, hoping to change the subject.

"As a matter of fact, she did," Wufei said quietly, "She called to send Trowa home and to tell you that you'll be taking his place until he's able to return to his regular duties."

Heero stifled a groan. Great, he thought, now I can't get away from her…

He nodded once to Wufei showing that he understood, and then asked Duo, "Could you hand me my jacket? I need to call Lady Une back…"

Duo hesitated for a second, then, after an approving nod from Relena as she went into the bathroom to change into her business suit for the morning's meeting with the press, he tossed the leather jacket to him, which he caught effortlessly. Heero dug into his breast pocket and pulled out the portable phone and pressed the speed dial that would connect him with the head Preventers' office. Lady Une answered the phone in her office with a curt 'hello?'

"Why am I staying here with her?" he demanded angrily, not even bothering to greet his superior officer.

"Nice to hear you're awake," she said tartly. "I figured you'd be the best man for the job since Trowa is no longer able work for a good while with that arm the way it is."

"But what about my place of administration back on L1?" he demanded.

"I've already found a suitable substitute for the time being from another branch on L2," Lady Une replied smartly. "He's already taken command so you might as well stay there to protect Relena." A devilish grin curled her lips. "And maybe you two could get reacquainted."

Heero growled into the receiver. "I'd much rather not."

"Well, I'm late for a meeting, so you're stuck there until this crisis is passed," she said.

Heero sighed. "Roger that," he replied, and promptly hung up in his superior's face. He knew that he would probably be bitched at because of that later, but right now, he really wasn't in the mood to be civil and understanding, besides, it just wasn't in his nature to do so in the first place.

He turned to Relena, who had reappeared from the bathroom. Heero was amazed at how sophisticated she looked in that outfit, a grey blazer with a knee length skirt. She sat down at her vanity and began brushing her long locks through.

"Will you be staying here longer than just to wish me well Heero, or do you have more pressing business elsewhere?" she asked, looking at him through her reflection in the mirror.

"Lady Une assigned me to keep an eye on you while Trowa recovers," he muttered.

Relena smiled slightly in victory. "That's good," she said. "That way you and I can spend some time together."

Heero frowned in annoyance. "Whatever…"

After Relena had gotten herself ready—and Heero had gotten a new shirt—Duo, Heero, Wufei, Relena, and a select few of the guards positioned around the room made their way down to the conference room on the first floor which was crawling with news reporters and journalists, all wanting a comment from Relena about this rumour and that rumour. The poor girl was overwhelmed by the vultures, and Heero just couldn't stand to see her this helpless. He whispered in her ear to ignore them for now until they get inside and they can be addressed one at a time. She nodded and pushed through the crowd to the conference room ahead of the sea of hungry reporters.

She took her position behind a podium at the head of the conference room on a raised section of the floor, straightening her suit and her hair somewhat nervously. She cleared her throat and reread her speech over and over under her breath as the reporters filed in, choosing the seats as close to the front as they could.

Heero, Duo and Wufei sat behind Relena as her personal guard. Heero slouched slightly in his seat to keep from hurting himself, what with his injury. He could tell by the way the morning had started that this session was going to be far from boring, with the reporters asking questions like how she considered the campaign to be going so far, whether yesterday's attack was going to hinder the progress of her tour of the colonies, whether there was any truth to the rumour that she had been attacked the previous night, etc… Who knew if the infamous question of their relationship would resurface or not, now that he was sitting behind her as a bodyguard; he had done so at her meetings when they were still going out.

The meeting started out as had all the other meetings that she had had on her campaign trail thus far, lots of questions regarding her plans to improve the life of the colony citizens with regards to health, the improvement of the shipment of goods to the more remote colonies and the building of new colonies for the growing population that was overcrowding the existing colonies.

Then it seemed to steer towards her personal life, with the assessing of his reappearance and the new threat that were being called the Black Wolves. She addressed them calmly, but when she was about to deny the fact that the Black Wolves were a threat to the precious peace that had been re-established, an arrow flew from the open window at the far end of the room, whistling straight for Relena. Heero, who was the first to notice the approaching missile, pulled Relena to the ground underneath him, covering her with his body, just in case a volley of them came sailing their way. There was a loud 'thok' as the arrow embedded itself in the wooden podium, from which Wufei removed it. There was a rolled up paper attached to the shaft, which he handed to Heero to look at. Scribbled inside was a note in Japanese demanding that the Gundam pilots surrendered themselves in the remaining eight hours or face the consequences. They were to meet in the control room of the colony at six that evening.

This chap was already posted, but it had some mistakes


	8. Meeting

They were to meet at a point in space at six that evening.

**Somewhere I Belong**

**Chapter 7**

_Meeting_

By: Miguela

Duo paced the floor restlessly as they awaited the arrival of Quatre and Trowa back in Relena's room. They had decided to hold a privet meeting of all five Gundam pilots to decide what they were going to do about this strange message. Heero lounged on Relena's bed, watching Duo pace back and forth in front of him, wearing a hole in the floor under the soles of his shoes. Relena hadn't spoken since the delivery of the message, staring at the floor in shock while Duo and Wufei talked quietly to each other. Heero rarely participated in these conversations, preferring to keep an eye on Relena.

"What do you think about all this Heero?" Duo asked suddenly. "I mean what in the Hell could they want with us? We're minor players here, why not just kill off the politicians and get on with starting their revolution?"

Heero shrugged philosophically, not really caring that Duo had reverted to calling him by his code name instead of by his real name. "There's probably a number of reasons that they want us instead of just attacking right away," he replied. "For instance, they probably realize that we're going to stop them if they tried an all out assault. They figure that they have to get rid of us first then proceed with taking over the Earth Sphere."

Duo stopped mid pace and crossed his arms over his chest, thinking hard on the possibilities. "Then it would be like we would be walking right into a trap if they want to do away with us," he said. "Is there any way that we can avoid getting killed if we do go to that rendezvous point?"

"Nothing is for sure Maxwell," Wufei interjected. "They may just want us distracted enough so that they can go ahead and start the revolution under our very noses."

Heero nodded. There seemed to be an endless amount of grim possibilities that may lie in wait for them in the control room of this colony. The Black Wolves never ceased to amaze him with new ways of getting their message across, and who knew whom the mastermind behind this organization was.

Relena seemed to be in a daze as she stared at the floor. Heero stared at her in turn, as she suddenly seemed to start listening to the conversation and finally spoke what she thought.

She blinked in surprise, and looked away from him. "I can't help but worry," she replied. "By the way Duo talks, it doesn't sound like we don't have much of a chance against them, do we?"

Heero shook his head. "We really don't know for sure our selves," he said, twiddling with a piece of string that had come lose from his shirt. "It could be that they're bluffing."

Relena laughed mockingly. "Yeah, those assassination attempts were just bluffs Heero," she said, crossing her ankles under her.

He glared at her lightly. "We're doing our best to try and find out about those attacks," he said. "The only thing we can do for now is wait for Quatre and Trowa and keep you safe." He pushed himself up off the comfortable mattress and sat up slowly.

Relena ran a hand through her long tresses, untying the knots in various places, the silky strands falling down her back in long, cascading waves of golden silk. She was really mad that Heero talked about his life like it didn't matter to him in the least. Hadn't the four years that they had been apart taught him anything about valuing life, especially his own? Guess not. She pulled her knees up to her chest up on the chair, balancing, while she continued to run her fingers through her hair.

There was a sharp rap on the door, and the guards snapped to attention as Quatre and Trowa entered Relena's suit, Quatre dressed nicely in his Preventers' jacket with a shirt and tie while Trowa looked like he had just crawled out of bed, his white shirt under his Preventers jacket wrinkled, his hair a little on the messy side and his eyes weary.

Heero rose to greet his former comrades in arms, hissing at the strain in his abdomen, and extended his hand to Quatre, whom he hadn't seen in a couple of years now.

Quatre smiled warmly at the young Japanese man, taking his proffered hand and grasping it warmly, saying, "It's so good to see you Heero."

Heero nodded, his usual scowl in place though his eyes were softened slightly in mirth at seeing the kind-hearted young man who was now in charge of the largest corporation in the entire earth sphere. "How has life been treating you, Quatre?" he asked, catching the movements of Relena out of the corner of his eye as she came over to greet the two late arrivals.

"It's been good, and how has life been to you?" he replied, enjoying the polite banter that was long over due with the stoic pilot who had suddenly disappeared into thin air. He had had the Maguanacs search for him on several occasions on Relena's behalf, but had never been successful in finding the ever-elusive 01 pilot. He was disheartened when Relena had called him up one night crying, saying that she had chased Heero away and now she didn't know where to find him. He had volunteered his resources to try and find him with no luck; when Heero wanted to disappear, he did so without a trace.

"Well enough for a man who only knew how to kill all his life," Heero replied, but there was a hint of a joke in his tone.

"And how have you been, Miss Relena?" Quatre asked, turning from his old friend to the young woman at his side. "Long time no see."

"Yes it has been a while, hasn't Mr. Winner?" she asked, giving the kind young man a warm embrace. "I've been wonderful, how about you?"

Quatre laughed as she pulled back, "Only those who don't know me well call me Mr. Winner, Miss Relena," he said. "I want you to call me Quatre and nothing but Quatre."

Relena giggled happily. Leave it to Quatre to make her as giddy as a schoolgirl, Heero thought ruefully.

"All right, but you have to promise to stop calling me Miss Relena," she said. "I get that enough from the older men at the congress meetings."

He chuckled. "Fair enough."

Heero went over to Trowa, who looked like he was going to fall asleep on his feet. "Sorry we had to call you here," Heero said quietly to his friend, "but we need everyone for this."

Trowa nodded. "No problem, I just wish that Sally hadn't used those pain relievers that put me to sleep," he muttered. The two of them watched the joyful reunion quietly, preferring to stay out of the way and let Quatre, Duo, and Relena exchange joyful banter. After the initial greetings had been said, Heero decided to cut right to the chase and tell them all exactly what had been going on recently.

"Recently, there have been a number of attempts on Relena's life," Heero said monotonously. "We have discovered that the nationalist group, the Black Wolves, is behind it. They have an unknown number of members, and have proven themselves competent with an array of weapons. We need to discover their goal and stop them at all costs." He took a breath and sat down on the edge of Relena's desk, glaring at his feet. "These psychopaths are dangerous and until we find out what their motives are; I warn that each and every one of you remain clear of them. They're not our average enemies here."

"Are we going to meet them at the resource satellite?" Quatre asked. "I don't think that we should ignore their threats; I think that they will go through with whatever plan they have concerning us."

"I agree," Heero said. "But we need to come up with a plan of action before we act on this threat."

"Man, it was easier during the war," Duo huffed. "These types of guys just jumped our in front of us and they were blown away, plain and simple."

"These days, it requires more cunning to deal with these threats," Wufei added, an underlining rebuke for Duo's careless words in his tone. "We need to find out what their plans are before we act."

Heero nodded. "Wufei, you and Quatre take a shuttle out to that resource satellite and see what you guys and find out," he instructed. "Duo, you access the satellite's computer logs and see who accessed them last and when. Trowa and I will guard Relena while you guys work. We'll meet up here tonight."

Each of them nodded and dispersed to their assigned tasks. Quatre and Wufei gathered up their possessions and left to take one of Quatre's privet shuttles to the resource satellites. Duo went down the hall to the information room to use a computer to find the requested information, and Heero and Trowa settled themselves in Relena's room, talking quietly and speculating about the new radical group.

"So Heero, what are your thoughts on the current situation?" Trowa asked quietly, crossing his slender legs smoothly as he stared calmly out the window.

"I don't like it," Heero grumbled. "This isn't my idea of a vacation."

Trowa smirked, tilting his head to the side. "Aren't you happy to be with Relena?" he asked quietly. "You don't seem to be as troubled now that you're here with her."

Heero was thankful that Relena currently wasn't in the room as he scowled. "What are you getting at, Trowa?" he asked.

"You should ask yourself, Heero, whether or not fighting with her is helping," Trowa told him gently. "You and Relena both know what I'm talking about."

Heero's scowl deepened. "Not exactly; I'm not in the mood for mind games today, Trowa."

Trowa sighed. "Do you and Relena really want to be constantly at each other's throats?" he asked plainly. "The two of you got along so well and it didn't take any effort for the two of you to become so close."

Heero frowned as he realized that Trowa was trying to nudge him toward another relationship with Relena. "I'm not going to try and repair the rift between us if she's not going to try with me. I can't mend things between us by myself."

Trowa smiled gently. "Have you tried talking to Relena alone?" he asked. "How can you be sure that she doesn't want to try and mend things when you haven't talked to her?"

Heero turned away from his friend and slouched, crossing his arms over his chest. "I don't want to try and mend things with Relena," he said firmly.

"So you'd rather let Relena cry herself to sleep at night because you refuse to talk to her?" Trowa asked, his question hinting towards accusing him.

"I didn't start this," Heero reminded him sharply. "She was the one that said that she wanted me to leave. She was more concerned with her job than my feelings."

"Maybe you only had one opinion in the matter and you didn't think to consider her feelings," Trowa suggested mildly.

Heero suddenly remembered why he had refrained from telling Trowa that Relena and he had gone their separate ways. Trowa was one of these people that were always optimistic about every relationship. He had never given up hope that Relena and Heero were perfect for each other, but in Heero's opinion, he was too heavily medicated to realize what he was saying.

"Maybe you've taken too many pills today," Heero shot back coldly.

Trowa chuckled, but Heero couldn't think of anything that he just said as being funny. "Ah, Heero," he said, settling back in his chair. "You and Relena really are good for each other; she told me the same thing earlier."

"You actually talked to her?" Heero asked in outrage.

Trowa shrugged. "I needed to get the facts from both of you," he said simply.

Heero shook his head. "You really are hard to dissuade, aren't you?" he said it more to himself than to his friend. "I'll talk to Relena when she wants to talk to me."

Trowa nodded. "That's all I could ever ask of you," he said. "Just remember what you just said the next time that she tries to talk to you."

Heero grunted quietly.

* * *

I'm so sorry people that I haven't updated this recently. Please forgive me. I'm trying to start working on it again, finish it, so I can work on other stories as well as school work, so give me points for trying. I need some suggestions because I'm in a bit of a rutt here. I would welcome your feedback and will respond to reviews in the next chapters. 


	9. Journey

Trowa nodded. "That's all I could ever ask of you," he said. "Just remember what you just said the next time that she tries to talk to you."

Heero grunted quietly.

**Somewhere I Belong**  
**Chapter 8 **  
_Journey _  
By: Miguela

Heero lounged on Relena's bed yet again, listening to reports from Duo, Quatre and Wufei as they came in, but not taking much interest in them since they didn't come up with any useful information on the new group of terrorists. His stomach was aching and the fact that Relena kept asking him what he was going to do about the new threat was starting to grate on his nerves.

"Heero, the fact that you're hurt is understandable, but why aren't you guys doing anything about the Black Wolves?" she demanded, dressed in pink flannel pyjamas that were decorated with blue flowers that were scattered around on the material. She was sitting at her desk pouring over paperwork and talking to Heero on the side.

"Because we don't have any leads," Heero said impatiently.

"Don't snap at me," Relena said, as she signed her name on the bottom of one of the treaties and set it aside. "We're all stressed, Heero. You don't have to snap at me." In Heero's opinion, she seemed to be exhausted as her comebacks were becoming childish and dark circles started to form under her eyes.

"Why don't you go to bed, Relena?" Heero suggested. There wasn't any hint of sarcasm in his tone, just a polite suggestion.

"Not yet," she said. "I'm almost done my sanction of these treaties and trade agreements between colonies and countries. They need to be done before I go back to the office."

"I'm sure that they can wait one night while you get some sleep," he said. "No one will know that you took a break to take care of yourself, for once." Relena shot Heero her own glare that she seemed to have perfected in the years they had been apart. A shiver coursed down Heero's spine as he sat up slowly, feeling his stomach twinge in pain. "Don't glare at me, it's true," he said. "You're always so busy with your work that you're not taking good care of yourself." He patted the bed next to him. "Come and sleep, and try going through those when you're awake."

He could see Trowa smirking behind his curtain of hair, and Heero scowled at him, but as he turned to fix Trowa with a 'death glare' he found that the Heavyarms pilot had taken an interest in the doorframe.

Relena yawned widely, causing Heero to turn his attention back to her. "Maybe you're right, Heero," she said quietly. "I need a vacation."

"Exactly, now come to bed," he said, willing himself not to blush at the words that he had unintentionally just said. They were no longer lovers, but he was still sleeping in her bed. He slipped off the bed and slowly stretched out his stiff muscles, turning so that Relena couldn't see the blush that had inadvertently crept over his cheeks.

"Aren't you going to stay with me?" Relena asked. "I thought your job was to protect me."

"I'll be over here," Heero replied, sitting on the widow sill, a hand protectively placed over his wound.

"But what if an intruder comes from that window?" Relena asked, pointed to the window closest to her bed and farthest from Heero.

"Trowa's sitting right there," Heero said, waving at his comrade.

Relena pouted sweetly. "Why don't you come and sit over here?" she suggested, patting the bed next to her. "I could use some company."

He sighed, and sauntered over to her, sitting at the foot of her bed. "Happy now?" he asked impatiently. Relena's smile was bordering on a smirk as she snuggled under the blankets. Heero's scowl was deepening as he lay back across the foot of her bed. "I'll be here," He said to her simply as he closed his eyes. The bed was comfortable. The puffy comforter was soft and welcoming. He closed his eyes and stilled his breathing so Relena would think that he was sleeping. He didn't want to get close to her, but, at the same time, he did still have feelings for her. He heard Trowa shift with the rustle of material and settle once again. He expanded his senses, listening to the timed rain fall outside the hotel, hearing the guards cough just outside the door. There was nothing but silence for a stretch and Heero felt himself relax the tense muscles in his body and just enjoy the stillness.

The time to head to Colony 6 came too swiftly for him as Trowa roused from his seat and touched Heero's shoulder gently, the stoic pilot opening his eyes and peered up at his friend in annoyance.

"Time to go," Trowa said simply to him as he left Heero wake up on his own.

Heero yawned as he sat up slowly and grabbed his jacket. There were four Preventers' officers in Relena's sitting room, looking alert as they stood guard at various intervals around the room. Heero caught a glimpse of one of them as Trowa opened the door a crack to peer out and confer with one of them. While Trowa wasn't looking, Heero bent over Relena, who was sleeping peacefully under the covers, and kissed her lips tenderly. She moaned in her sleep, which caused Heero to jerk away from her and Trowa to turn and look back at the two of them. Heero shrugged sheepishly and pulled on his jacket as he moved to follow Trowa out of the room.

Trowa and Heero met up with the three others at the shuttle, which was being prepared for the short voyage from one colony to the other. Heero caught sight of the other three on board the ship already. Heero and Trowa were updated on the status of the trip to the sixth colony by the young pilot who would be flying them to the colony.

"We have already been informed that there is already a large carrier stationed right outside the colony at the moment," he said to Heero as they walked up the stairway to the small inter-colony craft. It was one of Quatre's, Heero noted, as he saw the Winner crest on the cockpit door. "We have been hailing the colony and have gotten no response. We think that it might be a trap."

"It's so obvious that this is a trap," Duo echoed from inside the cabin of the craft as Heero reached the landing. "The Black Wolves have probably already gotten to the colony and have taken everyone hostage," he added sourly as he flopped down in the padded arm chair.

"Duo, don't say such negative things," Quatre said in alarm as he sat beside Duo. "I don't think that the people of Colony Six would be so compliant anyway, it doesn't make a lot of sense either way." He crossed his arms across his chest as he thought. Duo toyed with the tip of his braid.

"Yuy, do we have a plan of action yet?" Wufei asked as he looked up at the stoic pilot as they boarded the craft. "We can't just walk in to their hands, especially if they're demanding that we surrender ourselves, can we?"

"I agree with Duo," Heero said as he sat down across from Wufei, "We can't just walk in blindly. We have about an hour before we get the Colony Six, so I think we need a strategy when dealing with these guys."

Duo was bouncing again beside Quatre, which caused Quatre to sidle away from energetic young man. "Duo, I don't know where you get your energy from, but you're either going to have to calm down or give us all some of what you're taking," Quatre said to his friend, a ghost of a smile on Quatre's face as he and Duo joked.

"This isn't the time to be making jokes," Wufei snapped at the two of them, which caused them to instantly sober and become solemn like the other three pilots. "Now then, I have the layout of the colony here. We should memorize the plans so that we know where to go if we get separated or something goes down while we're there."

Duo winced as Wufei unfolded the four large sheets of paper with the layouts and blueprints of the colony. "Since when is this colony so huge?" he demanded as he peered closer at the lines. "I thought there were only a cargo area and the control room?"

"It was for until last year," Quatre said as he picked up a second sheet of blueprints. "We've been building on to this colony over the last year and now there's a population of a small city living there as workers until the colony becomes more stable."

"Why would a bunch of refugees be demanding that we surrender ourselves?" Duo asked in confusion. "They can't have any weapons or anything on a work colony, it's against policy."

"That may be true, but when people feel like they are oppressed, they tend to rebel," Heero said to Duo calmly as he leaned back in his seat. He did not like the prospect of this colony one bit. There were too many unknowns in the equation.

Wufei seemed to have the same feeling as he looked at the young aristocrat and asked, "Quatre, do you still have that scout ship on board?"

Quatre looked surprised at the question, "There are two old mobile suites on board right now," he replied as he frowned, "Wufei, you and Heero can't be having the same idea…"

"I want to see what I'm up against," Heero said quickly, "I'll use one of the Leos to see what sort of forces they have."

"Won't that raise suspicion?" Quatre asked as he looked at the stoic pilot. "You can't make me believe that this will do more good than harm."

The little space craft jerked all five Gundam pilots back in their seats as the shuttle was aligned for take off from the colony. Quatre frowned, "And I don't like the idea that all five of us are going. What's going to happen to Miss Relena if something happens to us? Wufei, aren't you supposed to be her body guard?"

"If this turns out to be a hoax, we'll go back and Relena will be fine," Heero said to Quatre in a monotone, "If this turns in to some kind of ambush, Relena will still be fine. I've stationed some of the best guys we have to be her body guards 24 hours a day, seven days a week. She'll be fine, Quatre."

Quatre let the argument slide though he looked apprehensive as they launched from the colony and out into space. Heero slouched in his seat as Wufei, Quatre, and Duo discussed ways into gathering information. They finally decided that Quatre would remain behind on the ship with Wufei and Trowa to monitor the colony while Duo and Heero went inside disguised as two new refugees looking for employment. Heero was groaning internally at the prospect of having to move from the comfortable stuffed arm chair in the shuttle to the colony. His side was throbbing with the constant reminder that there was still a hole there. He did his best not to show the others that his abdomen was bothering him, but Quatre knew.

Quatre stood from his chair and went to the small first aid kit that they had at the front of the cabin. He returned with the kit in hand and sat down beside Heero. "Let me see, Heero," Quatre said kindly, "I can try and numb some of it."

"I can take care of it myself," Heero said to Quatre as he sat up slowly and accepted the first aid kit. Quatre didn't fight Heero as he took out some aspirin and took 3. "Thanks," he said quietly as he handed back the first aid kit. Quatre smiled kindly and replaced the first aid kit.

Duo stared in curiosity, "Man, you really have changed," Duo noted as Quatre sat back down beside him. He didn't say much else as Heero shot Duo a fierce look.

"I don't know what you mean," Heero said simply as he sat back down.

"Well, you wouldn't have taken anything back four years ago," Duo said to him as he thought, "It just seems strange that you're so accepting all of a sudden."

Heero shrugged, "I'm not in the mood to argue with you Duo," he said simply as he tilted his chair back a bit. He had twenty minutes to rest some and let the pain relievers kick in. "These aspirin won't last long so we'll have to move fast and scout out the whole colony in just under two hours."

"A rushed job eh?" Duo said with a smirk, "All right, just don't lag behind."

"Last I checked, you were the one who was always late," Heero reminded him as he made sure that the bandages over the stitches were snug. "Quatre, I want you and Wufei to be ready in the Leos in case something goes down. I don't want us to be caught in there with no way out. You guys will be our way out if this goes sour."

Quatre nodded, "Trowa, you can stay here and keep an eye out," he said to the silent Heavyarms pilot. "Uh… Trowa?" Quatre asked curiously after no response. The silent pilot was slouched in his seat, chin on his chest, and was fast asleep. Quatre smiled softly, "I guess he'll sit this one out," he said to the others apologetically.

"He should've gone to bed," Wufei said as he poured over the blueprints to memorize them. "His arm won't heal if he's always running around like this."

"We'll let him sleep," Quatre said as he grabbed Trowa's Preventers' jacket and draped it over him. "No sense in waking him, we'll be fine on our own."

It took not nearly long enough for Heero for them to reach the colony. It was on the outermost orbit of earth and because it was so far out of the way, most people didn't bother to travel to the forsaken little colony. It was close to a large asteroid field that was used to mine rare minerals. The colony itself was rather shabby on the outside, but was brand new on the inside. They had completely stripped away the old hardware on the inside but had left the outside as it had been over twenty years ago.

Heero had only travelled once to this colony, and it had been about a year or so ago. He had found several homeless and jobless men on L1 and had suggested to them that they work at the mining colony to try and build up their skills. He believed that they were still on the colony to this day, earning their way through mining the minerals so they could pay to eat every day.

They docked the shuttle with the shabby colony and Quatre and Wufei disembarked, leaving the pilot to watch over a sleeping Trowa in the cabin of the craft. Duo and Heero donned their disguises of old jumpsuits that were the standard gray color. Duo tried to tuck his braid up under his hat, but it always managed to spill out one side or the other. Heero finally got Duo to remove the braid from his hair and put a hair net over his mess of hair. There were strands that managed to spill out, but they made it look as though his hair was shaggy and shoulder length. Wufei assumed the role of their escort as the ship docked. Wufei exchanged words with the foreman, explaining that Heero and Duo were to start work that day, despite the arguments from the foreman.

"We're over staffed here as it is," the large balled man argued with Wufei. "The Preventers think that they can do whatever they want with our mining operation, including force men on us at any point."

"My orders come from Lady Une herself on this one," Wufei said as he shrugged, "You can argue with her all you want, but for now, they're staying here."

The foreman grumbled as he snatched the paper work from Wufei that Quatre had forged while they were in the shuttle. "You can bet your asshole that I'm going to be having some words with Miss Une about this one," he grumbled to Wufei threateningly.

"I'm sure you will," Wufei said to him, though all five Gundam Pilots would be long gone from the colony when that time came.

The foreman scowled at Wufei as he turned to Duo and Heero, "You two, come with me," he barked as he spat at Wufei and turned on his heel.

Duo looked at Heero in a side-long glance and the two of them followed the burly foreman deeper into the colony. Wufei turned back to the shuttle with Quatre and Trowa. Heero knew that from here on out, they had to stay and act in character or else they would be in trouble.

Sorry I haven't written in so long. I now plan to finish this story in the next month or so. Hope you guys enjoy.


	10. Trapped

Heero knew that from here on out, they had to stay and act in character or else they would be in trouble.

**Somewhere I Belong**  
**Chapter 9  
**_Trapped  
_By: Miguela

The foreman led them back into the bowels of the colony. Heero consulted the map that he had memorized and they parted ways from the foreman as he went to talk to Lady Une about the non-existent workers who he was supposed to be putting up. Heero led them deeper into the colony, looking for the control room where they were supposed to be going. Heero had a feeling that the operation was somehow awry as the corridors were empty the further they went. He stopped in front of a men's room suddenly and ducked inside.

"Heero, what in the hell are you doing?" Duo demanded as he followed his friend inside the men's room. "How can you think of the bathroom at a time like this?"

"Something doesn't feel right," Heero said quietly as he checked each stall, his gun drawn from his waistband and the safety released. "Don't you think that they were a little too accepting of us? They're aware that we're here and there aren't that many people down in the heart of the colony like there should be."

"Now that you mention it, it does seem odd," Duo conceded as he proceeded to relieve himself. When Heero gave him a queer look, Duo shrugged, "When you gotta go, you gotta go," he said simply as he washed his hands and checked his gun. "So, how should we go from here?"

Heero thought as he checked his watch. "The aspirin should last another hour and a half, so here's what we should do." Heero pulled out the map that he had slipped away from Wufei as he was leaving the shuttle. "We should go to this small substation-" he pointed to a small area not far from where they were currently, "-and see if we can do a remote scan of the main control room. Then we'll make a choice if we want to go in through the door or through the vent or something."

"Or something?" Duo asked sarcastically and Heero shrugged.

"At this point, or something is sounding like a good option," Heero muttered as he shoved the map back in his pocket. "Do you have any more of those flash bombs?"

Duo ran his fingers through his hair and produced a couple of paper packets. "Always come prepared," he said proudly as he set them down on the vanity. "Thinking we'll have to blast our way out?"

"It might come down to it," Heero said as he looked around the men's room. He noticed that his reflection in the mirror was very pale. He sighed inwardly and turned away. Once this mission was over and they figured out where to proceed with the Black Wolves, he would take some time and rest with Relena.

He shook his head violently to clear the thoughts of Relena. _Not now,_ he scolded himself, _Mission now, Relena later. I will not blow the mission over her._

Though try as he could, he couldn't pull his thoughts away from her, and how she would scold him once he got back to her for going out when he was injured. He was pretty certain that Trowa would get the same scolding for his arm. He smiled inwardly at the firecracker that was Relena Peacecraft. It was that same zest that had captured his heart and had let him fall in love with her. The same zest had also pushed them apart and made her put her work ahead of his feelings. He shook his head to rattle the thoughts loose. Relena would have to wait until his mission was over.

He and Duo left the men's room and headed down the hallway to the substation. Duo pulled out a hairpin and managed to scrape the tumblers inside the lock until they opened to admit them. A soft whirl of electronic noise greeted them as they hurried inside and closed the door. There were three terminal stations inside the small room, each encrypted by a password. Heero smirked to himself as he inserted his disk and unlocked one station, making Duo whine.

"Hey, that's not fair," Duo said as he peered over Heero's shoulder. "I want to have a look too."

"We're not staying," Heero said to Duo impatiently, "Looks like the control room is deserted."

"Guess we were given the run around," Duo said with a sigh, "Why don't we go and take a look? We got about 10 minutes to seven, so we might as well check it out."

Heero shrugged, "Since it doesn't seem that anyone is in there, we might as well," Heero replied as he tucked his gun back into his waistband but left it accessible.

They took their time striding down to the control room as they had no reason to hurry. This door was locked with a swipe key card and Duo groaned as he saw the console. "I hate these things," he grumbled as he fished out a small pack of tools from pocket. He popped the face plate off the front of the thing and started to fish at the wires inside. There were quite a few sparks flying and Duo leapt aside with a yelp as the light turned green and the door swished open.

"Good work," Heero said to Duo as he sucked on a finger and followed Heero inside. They replaced the panel on the outside with a fake one and locked the door. "You start getting the data as I check the room to make sure that there isn't any one inside." He pulled out his gun and clicked the safety off as Duo grumbled and sat at one of the consoles.

"Heero, I think I'm getting too old for this," Duo grumbled as he sucked on one of the fingers on his left hand and typed with his right.

Heero didn't reply to Duo's self-pity as he held his gun steady in two hands and kicked in the closet door. Almost immediately, smoke started to fill the air around him, causing his head to spin. He heard Duo yell to him somewhere behind him as he staggered sideways into the doorframe. His vision swam in and out of focus as he hit his knees just inside the closet space. His vision was black now, he could no longer focus on sounds around him, and he felt two hands seize the back of his shirt and drag him backwards away from the smoke and throw him face down on the floor, where he sprawled like a limp rag doll. He felt a sharp pain at the base of his skull and then he knew nothing.

Heero groaned as he regained consciousness. His nose was pressed into the floor, making the position very uncomfortable. His body ached, but he couldn't quite remember what he had done to feel this way. He lay still on the floor as he slowly started to regain his senses. He remembered going to Colony six, remembered getting into the colony with Duo… What happened afterwards? Where was Duo?

He heard pacing footsteps not far away as his hearing came back to him and agitated voices shouting at each other.

"This is what you get when getting a rookie to do the job," One man said angrily as feet stomped past Heero's face. "He hasn't moved in over three hours!"

"Maybe the hallucinogen was too strong for him?" One man suggested timidly, "He was instantly affected when he opened the store room door, so maybe that's what's causing this?"

"His neck is still bleeding," Another man spat angrily, "Maybe it's that damn bug of yours, Sanchez, that is causing all of this? You ever think of blaming yourself one of these days?"

Heero heard the feet stop pacing in front of his face. "The bugs are working fine," Sanchez snapped, "The other pilot is under our control with no problems. Watch, I'll show you."

Sanchez walked away from in front of Heero and Heero then decided to try and take a peek at what was happening around him. He stared at the floor and saw a pair of feet over at one of the terminals. "01, stand," Sanchez commanded and to Heero's shocked amazement, his body started to move on its own. It stood and faced Sanchez, who sneered in Heero's face. "Finally awake I see," he said with a smirk, "Good, now you'll be able to return to where you came from and destroy Relena Darlian for us."

Heero's body saluted him and turned on his heel and walked to where Duo was standing. Duo had the same look on his face of absolute shock and Heero was sure that Duo had the same thing happening with his body as Heero was having. Heero felt as though he were a puppet on strings as he walked down the halls of the base with Duo, the two of them unable to talk to the other. Heero had a sinking suspicion that the Black Wolves had gotten exactly what they wanted, a Gundam Pilot or two to sneak in to Relena's room without arising suspicion and kill her.

* * *

Another chapter down, sorry it's so short, it just made more sense to end it here. Please R&R! 


	11. Deception

Heero had a sinking suspicion that the Black Wolves had gotten exactly what they wanted, a Gundam Pilot or two to sneak in to Relena's room without arising suspicion and kill her.

**Somewhere I Belong  
Chapter 10**  
_Deception  
_By: Miguela

Heero thought while he walked silently with Duo. His neck was throbbing greatly at the base of his skull, as he was sure the 'bug' that had been slipped in to his body to control it. He could feel every inch of his body so he knew that it hadn't damaged his spine any, he just couldn't control his own movements. He was hoping that Duo's strange behaviour would send up a red flag to the others to look in to what happened further.

_Stupid body,_ Heero thought angrily as they neared the docking bay, _Come on, work for me! _He was trying to make his body move on his orders as he walked. He bent his entire concentration on getting his body to reply to his demands, _Come on damn you, move!_ He finally succeeded to make his fingers twitch. He smiled inwardly. _Good, I should be able to break free of their control soon._ He waited until they were boarding a shuttle that had been docked at the station until he bent his will again and grabbed Duo's braid.

"Snap… out… of… it…" Heero grunted as it took all of his will power to stop and hold Duo's braid in one hand. He was starting to feel nauseous as he gripped the railing of the stairway. "Fight it!" He yanked on Duo's braid and Duo over-balanced backwards, making the two of them topple backwards. This commotion wasn't noticed by the workers as the two former Gundam Pilots tumbled down the stairs in a mix of legs and arms.

Duo groaned as he pushed himself off of Heero. "Thanks," Duo mumbled quietly and then doubled over, gripping his neck as his body shook.

Heero felt the shock as well, it felt as though a knife was being shoved in at the base of his skull and he crumpled as well. Stop resisting, a voice in his head said firmly, Every time you resist us, we'll punish you two severely. Now get on the shuttle, your comrades are waiting for you.

Heero felt his body stand again, as did Duo, and head up the stairs to the waiting shuttle once again. Heero waited until they were flying away from the colony to start testing how the 'bug' worked to control them. The further that they got from the colony, the more he could move without putting a strain on himself. When they were almost back to L2, he started talking to Duo normally without forcing it.

"They seem to have put some sort of control device on us," Heero muttered to Duo as Duo flew the ship, "Maybe we should try to disable it now while we can."

"What happens if it explodes or something though?" Duo asked worriedly, "I still have my whole life ahead of me, you know."

"We're going to have to some how to communicate to Quatre and Wufei what happened so we can get them to try and disable it so that the Black Wolves don't find out."

_Though that may not matter now, _Heero thought bitterly as Duo started docking with L2, _They may be able to hear what we're saying through us, so it would be pointless now, they would catch on anyway._ He glanced over at Duo and realized that this was the first time that he had ever seen Duo so unsure of what to do. Duo had a life now, away from fighting day to day, with Hilde and Heero would be damned if the Black Wolves took that right to live away from him. _Duo deserves to live as much as any of us,_ Heero thought bitterly. He couldn't help but think of how Relena was going to act as soon as Heero's body was ordered to kill her. He couldn't quite figure out how the Black Wolves would do it, but they obviously wanted Relena and he peace she had formed in the last four years to vanish completely from the earth sphere. _Damn this situation to hell,_ he thought savagely.

"Have any ideas, Heero?" Duo asked his friend as they got off the shuttle, "We should hurry before the signal becomes stronger and we won't be able to tell Quatre and Wufei what's goin' on."

Heero nodded and stated to talk to Duo about his suspicions as he walked. "Since the signal got weaker as we moved away from Colony six, there might be a way to block the signal completely from time to time," Heero said in an undertone as they passed through security. Heero experienced a brief moment of clear thoughts and stopped completely between the metal detectors. "That's it," he said and smirked, "Metal detectors."

"Um sir?" one customs agent asked him timidly, "Sir, I have to ask you to keep the line moving."

"Just a moment," Heero said to the agent as he turned to Duo, "Come stand here with me." He sidled sideways in the little scanner and Duo fit beside him. "See what I mean?"

"Yeah," Duo said as he rubbed his neck, "Now we know what to do about it."

"Please sirs, I have to ask you to come with us," the agent said insistently as he gestured to a small office to the side.

Heero pulled out his Preventers ID card, "It's okay," Heero said to him, "Lt. Commander Lee Kodora, we're experimenting with a theory." He turned to Duo, "When I give the signal Duo, use all your will to run to the hotel where Relena is," he said quietly, just above a whisper as he tossed his gun to the security detail so that he wouldn't be armed in case the Black Wolves ordered him to hurt Relena. "We only have a few minutes."

"How about we drive?" Duo thought with a smirk, "There are bikes right over there, run to that bike and we'll get to Relena faster."

Heero nodded and they broke through security as fast as they could and ran to the bikes. Duo fired up the engine with a key that he had stashed in his pants. "Key to every bike," he said proudly as the engine roared to life under them, "Let's hurry and get to Relena."

Heero grunted as he sat behind Duo on the bike and they sped off down the roads. Heero was keenly aware of the tingling in his neck though it wasn't even close to as bad as the first time it had happened, though it did cause him to reach to his neck and start to rub the lump at the base of his skull. "Faster Duo," Heero urged him, "We need to get to Relena before they get to this colony."

"I'm going to take this thing to it's limit," Duo said to Heero as he accelerated, "Hang on Heero, we're going to Relena."

As Heero and Duo sped through the colony, Heero thought of how he was going to explain to Quatre, Wufei, and Trowa as to why they weren't responding for 3 hours straight. _The simple way is to say that we were ambushed and are now under their control, _Heero thought bitterly, _Wufei would never let me live it down though. _

They approached the hotel at record speeds, nearly flying off the bike when Duo braked suddenly. "Come on Heero," Duo urged as Heero groaned, putting a hand over his old wound. Duo slipped under Heero's arm and supported him. "We can't stop now, we need to make the others aware of what's going on."

"I think that they already caught on," Heero groaned as the pain shot through his head again, making him collapse to his knees.

Gundam Pilots, stop fighting us, a voice echoed in his head, which sounded somewhat familiar. We have targeted Relena Darlian and if you continue to resist our demands, we will kill you both as well as Relena Darlian.

_Damn them,_ Heero thought as he stopped fighting and let his body move of its own accord. The pain in his abdomen intensified and he was in danger of blacking out. "D-Duo, tell Relena," Heero begged him quietly as he fell to his knees even though his body was trying it's best to keep going. "Tell Relena, I love her."

Duo started and Heero fell forward, unconscious before he hit the ground.

_Heero came to his senses lying on his back. His stomach felt as though it were on fire, as did the back of his head._

"_Damn you," he heard Relena say quietly, "Damn you for loving me, Heero. I thought I was over you." Heero let his eyes open a crack and he saw Relena sitting beside him in a chair. He seemed to be in her hotel room again. "Damn you for telling Duo that you loved me, now I don't know what to think." She fidgeted with her hair as she shifted in her seat so she could cross her slender legs. "Great, now he must think that I'm a cold and insensitive bitch now."_

That's what I thought_, Heero thought quietly as he watched the internal struggle that Relena was enduring, _Why are you having these thoughts, Relena? I thought that you said that you didn't love me?

"_I hated you for not wanting to be with me," she murmured as she stared out the window, "And now that we're reunited, all we do is fight." She sighed heavily and started to pace the room. Heero's eyes followed her, though he feigned sleep to see if she would continue her explanation. "I hate when we fight," she said, just above a whisper, "I want us to be together."_

"_As do I," Heero said quietly as he sat up slowly. "Relena, I love you with all my heart."_

_She turned to him, her hair catching the sun and glowing with a light golden color. "Oh Heero," she whispered as she came and sat beside him, "You and I shouldn't fight." She took his hand gently as she kissed his lips tenderly, "I love you, Heero, I always have and I always will…"_

Heero started with a jolt as he felt restraints on his wrists and ankles. He was currently blindfolded as well, which made things much more difficult. He cursed himself quietly for being naïve. He made sure that his brain waves remained at the level that they were at when he was having the dream, though it seemed to be too late as someone chuckled.

"01 is awake," he said smoothly as Heero felt a sharp pain in his head, "I can't let you see just yet, 01, or it would ruin the surprise. You and 02 tried to make a dash to the hotel where Relena Darlian is staying, though you failed in the attempt. We won't make the same mistakes twice, 01, count on it."

Heero cursed himself internally, _Of course it's not that easy,_ and he thought sarcastically, _they are not that stupid as to not know what would interrupt their little devices._

"Your wounds have been tended, 01," the man continued as he heard foot steps at the door. "Ah, Esmeralda, what news have you brought me?"

"The Preventers are looking for Lt. Commander Lee Kodora and Special Lt. Duo Maxwell," Esmeralda informed them as he heard heels click on the floor. "You, 01, what is your name?" Heero didn't reply and feigned to have fallen back asleep, which made the woman growl angrily, "Yuchii, order 01 to tell us his real name."

"01, tell us your name," Yuchii said smoothly and Heero replied in a monotone, "Lee Kodora."

Yuchii snorted, "Looks like they're looking for our hostages," he said to Esmeralda, "How about you set 02 loose back to the Foreign Minister to keep an eye on her? The modifications to his implant should be finished. Once I'm done fine-tuning 01, he'll join 02 and we'll move on to stage three of our plan for the master."

"Sounds good," Esmeralda said to him and she left the room.

"Now then 01," Yuchii said smoothly as he moved near Heero's head, "We'll finish fine-tuning you and then we'll have you under our control."

* * *

Two for the price of one :P Please review people, though if my inspiration sticks, I should be done by the end of the week :P


	12. What a Web

"Now then 01," Yuchii said smoothly as he moved near Heero's head, "We'll finish fine-tuning you and then we'll have you under our control."

**Somewhere I Belong  
Chapter 11**_  
What a web _  
By: Miguela

Heero lay and endured what seemed to be hours of pain. It felt as though someone had seized the knife at the base of his skull and was twisting it slowly and insistently. He was sure that he had shed some tears of pain in order not to make a sound while Yuchii 'fine-tuned' Heero's implant. Then Yuchii had fun testing it, making Heero struggle against the restraints and say whatever Yuchii wanted him to say. Heero was kicking himself as he divulged many weak points in the Preventers' defensive arrays. He knew that he would have to answer to these answers later and try to rectify his mistakes in sharing with the enemy the secrets of the Preventers.

He was put back to sleep for a bit, and once again he dreamed of Relena.

_She wore a long satin night dress, her hair loose and flowing over her shoulders as she came down the front stairs of the Peacecraft mansion to greet him. He had just returned from a rather difficult mission and he was exhausted. He needed rest more than anything right then, but as soon as he saw her, he changed his mind and decided that spending time with her would be more beneficial than sleep at that point. He set his duffle bag down by the door and took off his Preventers jacket to hang it up in the closet._

"_How was your day, Heero?" Relena asked him kindly as she reached the landing and walked over to him. She didn't have her slippers on as she usually did, which meant that he had probably woken her from her bed._

"_I didn't wake you did I?" he asked her gently as he kicked off his shoes and hugged her gently in greeting. "That bike is so loud, I hate coming home late when everyone is in bad."_

"_That's okay, it lets us know that you're home safe and sound," Relena said to him gently, "You didn't get hurt did you?" She had a soft smile and her skin was soft as he stroked her cheek with his finger tips._

"_No, I'm okay," he said to her gently, "I'm just glad to be home with you, I missed you all day today."_

_She smiled and it made his heart swell with love for her. She was the only one who made him feel as though his heart were about to bust at the seams with emotions with such a simple move as a smile. "Heero, I think that you and I should-"_

Heero's dream was cut short-just when it was getting good too-as his body jerked awake and he realized that he was standing with Duo once again. "Ah 01 has finally come back to his senses," Yuchii said and Heero blinked several times to clear his vision. A small man stood in front of Heero, garbed in a simple lab coat and a jump suite. He looked like a mad scientist that had just escaped from prison, the way his clothes and wild eyes looked. "Good, 01, punch 02."

Heero tried to resist hitting Duo but his will had no chance to try and counter the order as his fist was already imbedded in Duo's stomach. Duo's eyes were pained as his body didn't utter a sound, but righted itself as soon as Heero pulled away.

Yuchii was grinning maniacally, "Good, now we have two perfect weapons," he said gleefully as he turned to the man who was sitting behind him at an oak desk. "Is there anything that you would like them to do right now, Master?"

Halen Chambers sat behind Yuchii, swirling a glass of red wine and one hand and holding something that looked like a remote in the other. "How about some punishment for disobeying us, 01?" Halen suggested cruelly as he pushed one of the buttons on the remote and Heero doubled over in pain as a second pain knife joined the first one in the back of his skull. "Do not disobey again, 01."

The pain vanished as suddenly as it had come and Heero stood again, bowing low to Halen Chambers. _Scum,_ Heero thought viciously, _Dirty, pig licking scum! _He had no chance to voice these opinions, however, as he and Duo turned suddenly on his heel and they were sent out the door. _I wonder what they're going to make us do,_ Heero thought as he stood by the door to Halen's room where he was talking lowly to Yuchii. They didn't bother to keep their voices down and Heero heard them clearly.

"We need to send 01 and 02 back to Relena to act as a body guard during her next speech," Halen was saying, "That way they can assassinate her from afar and the Preventers who are watching her won't even know what hit her."

"Won't that be a little risky though?" Yuchii protested, "I don't want my devices to go to waste if we're going to just send those two to their deaths. I would like to try and test how far their abilities go. I did some tests with them while they were unconscious. Their bodies respond fine, even if they're asleep, unconscious, or in a coma. They will always move as I command them."

"You have two excellent puppets," Halen said to Yuchii. There was a pause and he continued, "However, we need this to be perfect. I don't want to just injure the Foreign Minister, I want to kill her to be sure that she can't rally support to herself."

"We can arrange that with 01 and 02," Yuchii assured him, "Just give me the orders, sir, and I'll send 01 and 02 on their way. I just have one request if I have to send them out soon."

"And what would that be?" Halen asked lazily.

"I want to have 01 be the one to kill her," Yuchii said devilishly, "I want to be sure that 01's will is broken completely with the death of the girl that he loves at his own hands, that way we can carry out other missions without any difficulty."

Halen seemed to think for a bit and then replied, "I can't see a problem. Just make sure that you feed them and have them sleep for a while so that they don't drop halfway through the mission. I want to be sure that Relena Darlian can't come back to try and stop us a second time."

Heero scowled inwardly, _No, _he groaned, _I will not kill Relena. With every fibre of my being, I will not harm Relena. I can't… I just can't hurt her…_

Heero's heart was hurting at the thought of hurting Relena. Even though she had hurt him emotionally and had toyed with his feelings, he still loved her, and he wouldn't let anything bad come to her. He would need every inch of his will power to remain calm so that he could fight at his very best and make sure the he could break free of the control device at the right moment. He slipped into a meditative state of mind since his body no longer was his to control. He would focus on regaining control so that he could prevent Relena from being hurt. That was still his mission and he would not fail.

It was several hours before Heero was released and he was ordered to go back to Relena. His heart was hammering as he sat across from Duo on the shuttle. _There's no escape,_ Heero thought sourly, _I need to fight these guys if I'm going to save Relena from being hurt. _He started to meditate as his body did as it was told. He completely detached himself from feeling his body so that he wouldn't feel the pain of his agitated wounds. _I will not harm Relena,_ he thought quietly and his thoughts drifted back to the time he had saved her at the Saint Gabriel Institute.

He was focused then, no conflicting thoughts entered his mind, though every once in a while he would sneak a look at Relena to see where she was. He was acting purely on instinct then, not really focusing on Relena, though always consciously aware of her. He couldn't figure out why he had covered her with Wing's shield to protect her from the falling rocks then, but he figured out later on that the young woman who had learned of his secrets had also stolen his heart right out from under his nose. He didn't know he was capable of feeling such strong feelings for Relena as he did then, though now he pulled upon every feeling that he had ever harboured for her.

He found himself up on a balcony with Duo, a sniper rifle in his had._ That was quick, _he thought to himself as he watched himself position the rifle over the banister so that he could aim at the Foreign Minister. He couldn't help but marvel at Relena's beauty, even from a distance. She was dressed in her best business suite that she owned and had a thin chain that he had given her before they had gone their separate ways.

_This must be her way of telling me that she still wants to be my friend,_ Heero thought as he took aim. As he placed his finger on the trigger, he started to fight the device implanted in his head with all his might. _No,_ he thought firmly,_ I will not hurt Relena, I can't hurt her, she's too important to peace._ His finger started to pull the trigger and he fought with himself even more violently. _No, please dear God, don't let me hurt Relena…_

_Hey everyone, I forgot to thank those who reviewed to my previous chapters._

comet01 - Thanks for your input. I tried my best to keep Duo in character as much as I could, even if he doesn't have much of a role. He will later on though. b - I know, I haven't updated this story in 3 years. whoops crystal-gundam - This story will be updated regularly from now on, I'm almost done with all my ideas, so time to wrap things up :P 

Thank you so much to everyone who reviewed. Keep the reviews coming so the chapters can keep coming :P


	13. For the love of Heero

His finger started to pull the trigger and he fought with himself even more violently. _No, please dear God, don't let me hurt Relena…_

**Somewhere I Belong  
Chapter 12**  
_For the love of Heero_  
By: Miguela

Heero watched as Relena looked up at the instant that he was about to shoot and looked straight at him. _I won't,_ he swore to himself as his finger slowly eased off the trigger,_ No, I won't hurt her. I love her!_ The intense pain entered the base of his skull as he pulled the gun down and put on the safety before he tossed it away from him. _I won't hurt Relena, I love her too much…_

The two of them locked eyes, Relena looking at Heero with question and doubt while he looked at her with pain and guilt.

The intense pain was starting to cause him to have flashes of memories. A little girl playing with her dog near an Alliance base, fighting Epyon in the final battle, hanging out with the other Gundam Pilots on Peacemillion, playing chess with Quatre as they talked about the best way to deploy the Winner resources to the Preventers…

He collapsed forward to the floor, laying still as Duo picked up the gun. His fingers were having spasms as he gripped the rifle in hand and looked at Heero. Heero fought his body and gripped the hand gun that has in his holster, pulling it out and training it over Duo's chest. "Don't," he whispered to his best friend, "No Duo, we shouldn't…"

"Should've thought of that before defying us, 01," Duo said coolly as he took aim with the rifle.

Heero shot Duo in the shoulder, causing him to loose grip on the rifle and let it fall to the ground. Heero pulled himself up but he was loosing control of his body fast. He pressed the hot barrel of his gun to his chest. _For Relena,_ he thought quietly, _She'll understand when they do an autopsy why. Please Relena, forgive me._

He squeezed the trigger on his gun and the bullet ripped through his chest. He coughed in pain as he sank down to the floor and lay on his side. His blood ran down from the hole he made in his chest with his own gun, but he now could think clearly. He concentrated on the pain from the wound in his chest as he heard several foot steps coming over to Duo and himself.

"Help Heero," Duo whispered quietly as Heero closed his eyes.

_Mission complete,_ he thought to himself quietly, _they didn't get Relena like they planned and once I'm dead, they won't be able to harm her ever again. She will be the president of the ESUN now, and Chambers won't get his way._ He opened his eyes again weakly as he heard Sally coming through the crowd. _I have to tell her,_ he thought desperately as she pushed her way through the crowd. _I have to tell her about Chambers and about the chip in Duo's head._ He took deep breaths as he tried to control his own anxiety and pain. As soon as Sally got close enough to him, he gripped her arm with a bloody hand.

"It's Chambers," Heero whispered, "Duo's being… controlled by them. Check the back of his head… for a control chip. Tell Relena…"

"Tell me what, Heero?" Relena asked as she came through the crowd and went to his side. "Oh God Heero," she gasped as she saw the wound in his chest. "Heero, what happened?"

Heero lay back on the floor and released Sally's arm as she pressed bandages to the hole in his chest. "No Relena," he whispered to her as he looked at her, "You're… not safe here…"

"Someone call an ambulance!" Sally called out as she let Heero lay on his back on the floor so that she could start to tend to his wounds. "We have two officers down, get Foreign Minister Darlian out of here!"

_Stay safe Relena,_ Heero thought to himself quietly, _I'll fight as much as I can, I won't give up on us, I learned that much through this._ _I love you, Relena, and I'll keep living for you so you won't be sad._

"No, I'm not leaving Heero," Relena yelled close to him. He felt her fall to her knees beside him and grabbed his hand, "No Heero, you can't leave me Heero, I would never forgive you if you leave me now." He felt her tears drip to his hand as she started to sob against his hand.

"Miss Relena, we have to get you somewhere safe," Quatre said to her gently, "Please Miss Relena, Heero would never forgive us if you died after this. I promise you that the two of you will meet up, but right now, Heero's in danger of loosing his life."

"Relena…" Heero whispered quietly as he opened his eyes for her, despite wanting to just close them and fall into oblivion. "Relena, don't cry… you're too pretty…"

He heard Relena gasp in surprise to hear Heero's voice. "Heero, oh God Heero, don't die on me, please," she whispered as she kissed his hand.

"Please," he whispered as he looked up at her, "Please Relena…"

She nodded reluctantly, "All right Heero," she whispered, "Don't die…"

He closed his eyes again as he tried to control his emotions and his pain. "I wont," he whispered to her and he could feel her take comfort in his words. _I'm not going to leave you, Relena,_ he thought quietly as he started to slow his beating heart so the loss of blood would be minimal._ I still have to apologize and make up with you, so I can't die yet until I'm completely sure that you don't want me in your life._ He felt her release his hand and she was pulled away from him as Sally tried to get him to open his eyes.

"Where is that ambulance?" Sally shouted irritably, "Heero can't last much longer like this, where are they?"

"They're on their way," one of the men posted close by replied, "Lieutenant Po, the paramedics are arriving just now!"

"Send them over here," Sally ordered as she pressed on Heero's chest. "I'm not going to let you die, Heero, so you had better not give up. Relena would never forgive you and neither will I."

Heero let Sally take care of him, though he knew that he had missed all the vital points in his chest or lese he would've been dead at that point. The blood wasn't as much as he thought it would be. He smirked to himself, _I guess that they don't call me the perfect soldier for nothing._

Heero let Sally and the others take care of him while he fell into sweet oblivion and slept. He awoke in a soft bed with bandages on his chest, side and around his head. _That wasn't long_, he thought to himself as he slowly came to his senses. As he usually did, he didn't raise his heart rate or his brain waves to be sure that no one would realize he was awake until he was sure that he was in safe company.

"I don't understand," Relena was saying quietly, "Why did he shoot himself? If he was trying to commit suicide, then why did he shoot himself through the chest? It just don't understand what was going through his mind."

"We found a chip implanted in Heero and Duo," Sally said to Relena, "It was controlling them completely."

Relena sighed angrily, "That's despicable," she murmured, "Whoever was controlling Heero probably ordered him to shoot himself or something."

Heero groaned quietly to let Relena and Sally know that he was awake. He heard two female gasps and someone took his hand. "Oh Heero," Relena said to him gently, "Don't move around too much, okay?"

Heero opened his eyes slowly and blinked to clear away the fuzziness from them. "Relena," he said to her as he gazed up into her relieved face. "You weren't hurt, were you?" he asked her worriedly as he gripped her hand gently.

She shook her head quietly, "No, I'm okay," she said to him gently, "Heero, you saved me."

He considered her words. _Did I actually save her?_ he thought to himself quietly, _Hm, I guess I did save her._ He turned his gaze to her, "Is Duo okay?" he asked Relena gently.

She nodded, "He hasn't woken up yet," she said to him as she slipped her hair behind her ear. Her face was red and puffy, probably from crying in worry over him, and her hands gripped a wet tissue.

He smiled at her tenderly, "I'm glad you're okay," he said to her gently as he closed his eyes tiredly.

* * *

Another Chapter PEOPLE!!! I need some reviews, people, really bad, please? 


	14. To End all Battles

He smiled at her tenderly, "I'm glad you're okay," he said to her gently as he closed his eyes tiredly.

**Somewhere I Belong****  
Chapter 13**  
_To End all Battles_  
By: Miguela

Heero rested for a few days in the Preventers Hospital on L2. Lady Une had come to see him personally when he tried to get up and tried to wrestle his laptop away from Wufei. Wufei wouldn't give him the laptop, which had inspired Heero to get up and go and retrieve it. He was not at all pleased when three nurses and a doctor wrestled him back in to bed and Relena perched on the foot of his bed to be sure that he wouldn't get up again.

He and Relena were back on decent terms again. He had explained to her about the ambush on Colony Six, all the while demanding that she retrieve his laptop from Wufei so he wouldn't try breaking the passwords on it. Relena had giggled girlishly when he glared at her from his hospital bed.

"Lee, it's just a laptop," Relena said to him, using his real name instead of his code name. "Really, there's no need to get it back, he's not going to hurt it."

He sighed, "Relena, please?" he asked her, though he was on the verge of being bored. "I want to write my report for Lady Une and that way I won't have to write it later." Because it was only Relena in the room, he relaxed around her and acted himself to try and get her to do as he asked. He pouted at her, "Please?"

"The report can wait," Relena said to him as she started to roam around the privet room, arranging flowers that she had gone out and bought for the room and the various cards that Heero had received from his friends back on L1. "You're still wheezing so wait until Sally clears you before you start to work again."

He sighed as he flopped back on the pillows, wincing slightly at the sharp pain that went through his chest but not really bothering with it other than that. "Relena, I have a serious question to ask you," he said to her quietly as looked at her.

She stopped trimming the dead leaves off of one of the flowers and turned to him, "What is it, Lee?" she asked him, coming over to sit at his feet.

He seemed to loose his nerve now that he had her attention and blushed, "Well, I don't know how to say this," he started and Relena giggled.

"Heero, I didn't know that you could blush," she said to him as she leaned closer to him, "You're cute when you blush like that."

His face reddened even more now that she was poking fun at him. He wanted to ask her if they could still be friends but he didn't know how to word it without sounding either childish or demanding. "Relena, I'm trying to be serious here," he said to her as he took her hand. "Relena, I-"

He was cut off as Wufei came into the room. He didn't bother to knock and just entered with Duo and Quatre on his heels. Heero released Relena's hand-he wasn't ready to tell the others that he still had strong feelings for Relena-and glared at the three of them. "Don't you guys know how to knock?" he demanded irritably as Relena smiled at him and got off his bed.

Wufei shrugged, "We figured you wouldn't mind Yuy," he said as he set Heero's laptop down on one of the tables. "We need to discuss what we're going to do about the Black Wolves."

Heero sighed as the three pilots shooed Relena from the room so they could talk privately. _I really wanted to make up with her,_ he thought to himself as he made himself comfortable on the bed, _and I'm sure that she wanted to do the same._

Duo seemed to be worn out as he smiled at Heero, "Hey man," he mumbled as he sat down on the couch. His right arm was in a sling, held close to his chest, and he was still in hospital garb as they hadn't released him yet.

"You should be resting, Duo," Heero said to his friend, "Your arm could get complications if you don't let it rest."

"Yeah, you're right," Duo said as he rubbed his eyes, "But I don't want to miss anything. If they're going to let you in on this then I want to be included."

Heero shook his head at his friend and turned to Quatre, "What have you guys come up with?"

Quatre seemed to be distracted in looking out in the hallway, "Well, we think that they've got some other reason to take over you and Duo other than control of you," Quatre said lamely and Heero rolled his eyes.

"They wanted to get rid of Relena," Heero said to him, "Quatre, Halen Chambers is behind the attacks on Relena, I'm sure of it, all we have to do now is put him together with the Black Wolves and we can have them all charged."

Quatre's attention snapped back to Heero, "What?" he asked in confusion, "Halen Chambers, why is he involved with the Black Wolves?"

"That we can't seem to figure out," Heero said to Quatre though he noticed Quatre's hand was shaking abnormally. "Quatre, are you okay? You seem to be having a fit or something…"

Quatre smiled at him sheepishly, "I've just been trembling a lot since this whole thing started," Quatre said to him, "I was just scared that something like this was going to happen."

Heero didn't reply as he watched Quatre's hand flop feebly, though Quatre didn't seem to mind. Heero noted this and didn't say anything further to his friend.

"So Heero, are you and Relena going to get together now?" Duo asked excitedly, as he eyed his best friend. Heero glared at Duo, which caused his smirk to widen, "Come on Heero, I saw the way you two were holding hands, just admit it."

Heero willed himself firmly not to blush as Duo started to question him at every chance he got on whether or not he and Relena were going to become girlfriend and boyfriend. "Duo," Heero said finally, "Relena and I are friends, nothing more."

"Yuy, stop trying to deny your feelings for her," Wufei said as he started typing on Heero's laptop. "You said so yourself, you have to be true to your emotions, why don't you just admit that you have feelings for her?"

Heero glared at Wufei, "Even if I did, Chang, where would that get us?" he asked as he rubbed his scarred side, "Relena is in enough danger without me getting her into even more danger. I think that we should keep the guards close to her as we are now and make sure that we don't slip up and let anyone harm her."

Duo giggled in his corner by the window. "Duo, I don't know what pills they have you on, but you need to cut back," Wufei said to him as he eyed Duo, "It can't be healthy to laugh that much."

"You guys are just too uptight," Duo chortled as he got up slowly and started to pace around the room, "Heero, you need to laugh more."

"I'll laugh later," Heero muttered as he leaned over the side of the bed and snatched his laptop away from Wufei. "I don't like when people are on my laptop," he said to Wufei simply as he sat back on the bed and put the laptop in his lap. "Now then, we need to see what we can do about those Black Wolves."

Duo smirked as he started to bounce in his seat. Heero gave Duo a very strange look, "Duo, either get off those pills or share," Heero said to his friend as he started to change every password on his laptop.

"Man, I wish I could," Duo said with a smirk, "I'm high on life, man, you need to loosen up to get this way."

Heero sighed as he looked away from Duo and back to his laptop. The whole time, he noticed Quatre's shaking was getting worse. _Did they get Quatre?_ Heero wondered quietly to himself, _I've never seen Quatre shake that much, not even when he was hurt, so why now?_ He watched as Quatre leaned closer to the laptop screen, which made him close the screen. "Hey Quatre, how about you get some rest?" Heero suggested, "I'm feeling tired so I'll leave Wufei to try and figure out what these guys are after." He typed up a quick message to Wufei, asking him to check the back of Quatre's neck for an implant and handed him back the laptop. "I'll leave this in your hands," Heero said simply.

Wufei nodded and tucked the laptop under his arm as Heero lay back on the bed. "We'll be going with Relena Darlian to the L3 colony cluster," Wufei said to Heero. "Once you're feeling better, Lady Une instructed me to let you come along. We have to find the Black Wolves and put an end to them."

Heero nodded as he heard the door creak open, "Heero, can I talk to you?" Relena asked timidly as he slipped in around the door.

"He's all yours," Duo said to her happily as he smirked, "Now Relena, go easy on him now, we don't want to have to stitch him up again, okay?"

Relena smiled at Duo and nodded to his good nature and the three pilots left Heero and Relena alone together. Relena sat down at Heero's feet once again and started to play with her hair. Heero recognized the signs that she was nervous. "What did you want to talk to me about?" Heero asked her as he eyed her. She was so beautiful to him, a mature young woman, and it made his heart ache that he couldn't hold her, even if they were still lovers.

Relena shifted so that she could look away from Heero and out the window. "I'm sorry," she said quietly, "Heero, I'm so sorry."

He took her hand gently, "Don't be," he said to her gently, "Relena, we need to concentrate on keeping you safe right now."

She looked up at him and he could see her eyes shining with tears, "Heero, when will be safe together?" she whispered as she moved closer to him and rested her head on his shoulder and started to cry silently. "You come back and now you're always getting hurt over me. I feel horrible, Heero."

He smiled at her tenderly as he wiped her tears away, "I said that I would protect you, Relena," he said to her gently as he wrapped an arm around her shoulders, "You're the important one in this fight, and I'll protect you." His lips brushed her forehead gently, "I promise, Relena, that I won't let anyone harm you."

He wondered briefly when he had gone from hating Relena to loving her again. Maybe they were one in the same, his love and his hate for her. She looked up at him as she pulled her knees to her chest. "Heero, I love you," she whispered, "I didn't have any courage to say it in front of the others, but I missed you so much. You must think me weak, Heero, for relying on you so much."

He shook his head quietly, "Relena, I'm sorry," he said to her gently, "I was mad. I know how important your job is to you." Heero felt his heart ease with the tension of the room. _This is how it should be,_ he thought to himself, _Me and Relena, together like this. This feels… right._

A/N: Here you are people, another chapter for your reading pleasure. I should have this done by next weekend, so keep reviewing and keep my inspiration going :P


	15. A wrench

_This is how it should be,_ he thought to himself, _Me and Relena, together like this. This feels… right._

Somewhere I Belong Chapter 14 _A wrench_ By: Miguela 

Heero held Relena gently, his arm around her shoulders, and they talked quietly. Heero told her of his job on L1, and how they had cleaned up the colony that he was currently living on well. Relena listened and commented on how his apartment was blown up as a message to him.

"Heero, do you think we can beat them?" she asked him as she pulled away from him and sat facing him so he could lay back and get some rest.

"I think that we can," he said to her as he put his arms behind his head to cushion his head. "Do you believe in me, Relena?" he asked her quietly.

"Of course I do," Relena said to him gently as she started to shift and fiddle with her hair, "I'm just worried, Heero."

He nodded in understanding, "We all are," he said to her gently. "Could you get me a laptop, Relena? I want to listen to music."

"You mean your Linkin Park?" Relena asked him with a smile as she went in to her purse, "I brought your old MP3 player, though I don't know if your music tastes are still the same."

He shrugged as he took the MP3 Player from her, "Thanks Relena," he said to her, "And I have another favour to ask you."

She set her purse aside as she stood from his bed, "What is it, Heero?" she asked him gently. "At this point, I'd do anything, I'm just so happy that we're not fighting any more."

"Could you start calling me by Lee Kodora?" he asked her, "That's my real name, and Heero Yuy was just a code name."

Relena nodded, "Sure, He-Lee," she said to him with a smile, "I just think that Heero Yuy suites you so well. Doctor J knew your heart when he gave you that code name."

Heero smiled at Relena as he set the MP3 Player on his end table and sat up slowly. "Do you have your speech ready?" Heero asked her quietly as he started to check the bandages on his chest. They were stuck to the bullet wounds in his side and chest. He gently and gingerly peeled them off and changed them himself as Relena watched and assisted him when she could.

"Maybe you should let the doctor do that for you, He-Lee," she said to him gently as she started to clean the wound on his back. She ran her fingers along his shoulders and back gently. "Lee, you're full of scars," she said to him sadly.

"Scars prove that I've lived through many experiences," Heero said simply as he leaned forward for Relena. He let Relena work as he set up the MP3 player to blast music so that he could sleep peacefully. Ever since the end of the war, he kept having nightmares about all the people that he had killed over the years and he found that the music pulled his mind away from the depressing thoughts. He smiled, _Relena knows me too well,_ he thought as he let the music play from the head phones.

Relena rested against his back after she had finished with the wound on his back. "Lee, promise me that you won't do anything crazy," she whispered, "I don't want you to fight to the death over this."

"My life is worth more than that," Heero said to her gently. "They're not going to kill me, Relena. I haven't experienced life yet, I have to do that before I die."

Relena nuzzled into his shoulder and the two of them stayed that way for a while. Heero was certain that Relena had fallen asleep against his back as he gently turned and let her rest against his chest so he could lie back with Relena.

_I promise that I'll protect you,_ Heero thought to himself as he held Relena gently, _And if these feelings between us continue, I'll have no choice but to stay with you forever._ Heero fell asleep with Relena's gentle breaths tickling against his collar bone and his favourite music playing softly beside him.

It didn't take long until Heero was back on his feet. He always healed at an incredible rate and the two gunshots were no exception. Within two weeks, he was moving about with no problems and after another week and a half, Sally cleared him so he could resume his duties.

Wufei seemed to have gotten Heero's message and kept a close eye on Quatre, who was acting more and more suspicious every day. Everywhere that Quatre went, Wufei was close by. Trowa's arm healed with no problems and he took over protecting Relena with Wufei and Quatre.

Heero spent as much time as he could with Relena, between her speeches and announcements on her campaign trail, Heero wanted to spend as much time as he could. After three and a half weeks of resting, Heero left his hospital room and went down to the gym in the lower sections of the base. He had changed in to a pair of gym pants that he had had Relena buy for him and a Preventers t-shirt and had his uniform in a gym bag. With his music blaring from the MP3 player, Heero worked out as hard as he dared on the machines and cooled down with an hour run on the treadmill. His subordinates stared at their superior in amazement as Heero jogged away. Duo came down and Heero watched him exchange banter with the other Preventers in the gym and came over to Heero.

"Lee, what in the Hell are you doing?" Duo demanded in amazement as he watched Heero run and start to build up a sweat.

"I need to start training again sometime," Heero said simply as he slowed the machine to a walk so he could have a decent conversation with Duo. Duo started on the machine next to Heero.

"So, are you and Relena back on good terms?" Duo asked cheerfully as he looked at his old friend. "You two seem to be spending a lot of time together these days."

Heero didn't bother to reply to Duo's attempt at gleaning information from him. Instead, he asked, "Have the Black Wolves made any more attempts at Relena?"

Duo sighed and shook his head, "Everything's been quiet," Duo said simply, "Though I noticed that Quatre was talkin' to himself earlier today."

"Be on your guard around Quatre," Heero said to Duo, "I think that he might be being controlled by Halen Chambers and the Black Wolves. I noticed that he's been acting strange since we got back from Colony Six. Quatre may no longer be acting of his own free will."

"Right," Duo said as he nodded, "Wufei's been keepin' a close eye on Quatre."

"I asked him to," Heero said to him as he wiped the sweat from his face and neck. "I don't want the Black Wolves to get a tip off that we know, but at the same time, I can't just pretend that I don't know either."

"And how are we going to take the Black Wolves down?" Duo asked curiously, "Colony Six's been destroyed, so how are we going to lure them out?"

"Colony Six has been destroyed?" Heero asked incredulously.

Duo nodded, "They self-destructed about a week ago," he said quietly, "Though I don't think that they did it willingly. How are we going to handle these psychos now?"

"Voting for the new president of the ESUN will begin in another week," Heero said to Duo, "If they're going to try and get rid of Relena and control the Earth Sphere, it would be an ideal time to harm Relena. In order to stop them from harming her, I think that we need to start trying to trace the transmitter in Quatre back to the source. That way, we'll find out where they're hiding out and we'll strike before they attack Relena again. Duo, I think that you should spend as much time as you can with Hilde, we may be going in to dangerous areas where we may loose our lives."

Duo nodded grimly to Heero statement, "I already thought of that too," Duo said quietly, "But how will we trace the transmitter on Quatre without him knowing?"

"I'll figure something out," Heero said to him simply as he stopped the treadmill and hopped off. "Meet me in the large conference room with Wufei, Trowa, and Quatre in two hours."

Duo looked at Heero incredulously as he headed for the shower. Heero stood under the hot water and let it soak his neck and hair thoroughly. He gingerly touched the scar on his chest from his intended suicide and marvelled at how it didn't hurt him as it usually did. _Yet another scar,_ he thought sourly,_ I'm just covered in them now._ He found the scar on his abdomen from and ran his finger over the freshly healed skin. He sighed and started to wash the sweat from his hair.

Once he was done showering and getting changed into his Preventers Uniform, he headed up to the large conference room to start putting his plan in motion. He gathered the necessary supplies from the supply closet and started to set up a transmission detector. It would be able to pick up the radio waves being sent or received from Quatre. This would help them find the Black Wolves and stop them from harming Relena.

As he was setting up the machine, he listened to his MP3 player, tapping his toes every so often as he got everything set up. As expected, after two hours, all the Gundam Pilots showed up at the conference room, looking rather confused as to why Heero had called them there. Heero had set up his laptop on the projector so he could outline a fake plan so that Quatre could relay the information back so they could trap the Black Wolves. It was a simple plan, though it didn't lack any of his cunning.

"All right, this is the plan," Heero started as he flicked the switch which turned off the lights and started the transmitter, "We're going to have to get Relena off this colony and back to Earth by safe means, so we're going to have to have two shuttles, one with Relena and one as a diversion. One will be leaving from point T5 at the back of the colony and the other will leave from D6. The purpose of this trap is to get Relena to Earth and lure out the Black Wolves." He checked the transmitter as it printed out coordinates. "Does anyone have any questions on this?" He neglected to mention that this would never take place, though he would relay that information to each of them, minus Quatre, separately. He had the place of where the Black Wolves were hiding and he would find them.

Heero took Duo aside as the group disbanded to get ready for Heero's fake plan. "Tell the others to gather here," he said to him quietly as he handed Duo a scrap of paper with the coordinates from the transmission. "Don't tell Quatre. I want to catch the Black wolves by surprise."

Duo nodded and headed out with a flick of his braid. _And now, we're going to start getting into place_, Heero thought to himself, _they're going to regret having dealt with Lee Kodora._


	16. Plot Revealed

Duo nodded and headed out with a flick of his braid. _And now, we're going to start getting into place_, Heero thought to himself, _they're going to regret having dealt with Lee Kodora._

**Somewhere I Belong**  
**Chapter 15**  
_Plot Revealed_  
By: Miguela

Heero bided his time, listening to his music and working his muscles in the gym as he waited for Duo to report back to him. He had to seem like he didn't have two clues what was going on or else Quatre would send up the red flag to the Black Wolves and their plan was useless. He made a point of arranging a dinner meeting with Relena the following day so that he would have something to look forward too.

It didn't take Duo long to return to Heero with the news that everything was set and that the coordinates that Heero had given him were to an abandoned colony not far from their current location. "They must've moved their home base when we found out about Colony Six," Duo said simply as he showed Heero the print out of the coordinates. "We should go there and destroy that transmitter and then take out the chip from Quatre."

"We're going to have to do it simultaneously," Heero said to Duo, "We don't know if destroying the transmitter will hurt Quatre, so the safest way is to take the chip out first. As soon as we're about to enter the colony, we'll have Wufei knock Quatre out."

Duo sighed, "Man, I really hate this," he muttered, "They're using us against each other."

Heero nodded, "We'll have to be one step ahead of their game by going to them before they can make Quatre harm us," Heero said to Duo seriously, "Or else they will make you kill Hilde like they tried to make me kill Relena."

Duo nodded in understanding, "Though I have to say that this sucks," Duo complained, "I don't want to fight Quatre, he's one my friends."

"Quatre can't fight them on his own," Heero said to Duo, "That's why we have to do this. Notify Wufei that I'll meet you both at the spaceport at the T5 section in thirty minutes. We're going to that colony and we're going to settle this once and for all."

Duo nodded and headed out of the gym. Heero took a quick shower and grabbed one of the Preventers' motorcycles. He was rather fond of the machines ever since he started driving one on L1. The machine roared to life beneath him and he pulled on his helmet. He didn't bother to say good bye to Relena this time around. _I have every intention of coming back alive,_ Heero reasoned with himself, _I'm not ready to say good bye to Relena yet._ He drove at break-neck speed, crouched low to the machine and sped the whole way to the spaceport. He wanted to secure one of the Preventers' air crafts before having to leave. He didn't want to get there and there not be any shuttles left. He skidded to a halt when he got in to the parking lot of the spaceport and held on as the bike tried to pitch him over the handlebars. He groaned at the strain that it caused his chest and unclipped his helmet and tucked it under his arm. He conferred with a couple of his subordinates, a couple of them glancing away from him when they saw him coming.

"I need a shuttle ready for departure in the next thirty minutes," Heero instructed one private. "We have an urgent matter and this needs to be done right now." He put his helmet and keys in a locker and took the key with him. He arrived at the control tower in record time as he saw his shuttle being prepared. "Don't bother supplying a pilot," Heero said to the mechanic putting the order through, "I'll pilot it myself, I just need the shuttle fuelled and prepared for launch in a half hour."

"Sir," the mechanic saluted and changed the order to accommodate the request from his superior.

Heero had taken a liking to his position in the Preventers – he loved to order people around – and didn't want the Preventers to turn into another organization that took to dominating people, and in order to do this, he needed to be there. The Preventers were there to prevent any more incidents, living up to their namesake. They didn't have any mobile suites or heavy artillery, just men who wanted to fight to protect their homes, though it usually meant that they were sent to settle civil disputes. He had made sure that the Preventers group at large had not found out about the goals of the Black Wolves, though he wasn't 100 sure himself.

Duo and Wufei arrived just as Heero was given the okay to board the shuttle. Heero slung his bag over his shoulder and led the way on board. He dropped his duffle bag in one of the empty chairs and sat in the co-pilot's seat. "Duo, why don't you pilot the shuttle?" Heero suggested, "I'll start scanning that colony." He looked back at Wufei, "Get in touch with Trowa and let him know when he can subdue Quatre. Timing is everything with this."

Wufei sat at the communications console and put on the headset. "Just let me know when," Wufei said to Heero as Heero plugged in his laptop to the navigation systems. "Once we have these guys in custody, I think I'll take some vacation."

"To go and see your sweetheart?" Duo asked with a snicker and Wufei shrugged.

"Maybe," he said mischievously.

Duo shot Wufei a strange look as he took his seat at the helm. "Hang on to your hats," he said gleefully as he eased the ship out of the docking station. "We're going to put these guys behind bars and then we're going to celebrate. I think that we should all go out to the festival or something, because this is the best."

"Don't start celebrating yet," Wufei scolded him, "We don't know what they have waiting for us at that colony."

Heero started sending out probes from the shuttle, trying to figure out if they were flying into an ambush or not. There was debris around the abandoned colony and the whole structure looked unstable, but there wasn't any source of life on the colony. "It looks deserted," Heero reported as they neared the colony. "The transmissions are originating from the central area of the colony. Duo, dock with the colony and we'll disable the transmission." He looked back at Wufei, "Tell Trowa that it's time."

Wufei nodded and sent the transmission to Trowa as Duo started the docking sequence. Heero checked his hand gun to be sure that he had bullets available to him. _This is going to end here,_ Heero vowed to himself,_ I don't want anyone else to get hurt. We've fought too long and too hard for them to ruin our peace._ He stuck a second clip in his holster as he loaded the gun and clicked on the safety.

Duo successfully docked with the old colony and the three of them set out to search the colony for the central command center. They were all dressed in space suites in case that the life support systems had been terminated already. They split up since they could cover more ground that way and headed their separate ways. Heero floated down the hallway silently. He had memorized the layout of the colony while they were flying to the colony. He didn't see much point in not knowing where he was going. He removed the face shield on his helmet and clicked the safety off on his gun. He would not be caught unawares.

As he moved through the corridors, his thoughts drifted back to Relena once again. He could no longer deny the feelings that he was in his heart for her, and the more time that he spent separated from her, the more his heart ached. She made his day by smiling. He growled at himself for getting attached to her. _Should've killed her,_ he grumbled to himself, though he knew that had he been given the chance, he wouldn't have been able to kill her. He couldn't pull the trigger any more than he could kill a puppy. Though he didn't want to admit it, his heart had gone soft over the years. He was starting to act more and more like his good-natured self that usual. He wouldn't show any emotion when he was in the presence of Doctor J or Deikim, though he would laugh and play with the other workers on the colony where he lived. He didn't like that every time he would smile he got a shock, so he just stopped smiling. He didn't have a use for it, until he met her. Who would've thought that a spoiled little princess would make his heart feel lighter than air?

He neared the center control area of the colony and slowed his progress speed by placing his hand on the railing. He listened intently for any sound of any sorts as he slowly progressed down into the depths of the colony. There was a gentle slope to the corridor now as it proceeded towards the command center. His heart rate was steady as he stopped and planted a small explosive. He didn't want that colony could be used against them again and it was scheduled for demolition anyway. He moved down the corridor until he heard shouting coming from further down the passage way.

"Wufei, man, what the hell?" Duo demanded angrily, "Why in the hell are you shooting at me?"

"Be quiet 02," Wufei said in a monotone, "I may not have been able to control 01, but I will be able to control 05 until my objectives are met."

Heero kicked off the wall and sped down the hallway until he saw Wufei and Duo come in to view. Duo held his shoulder, which was bleeding, and was kneeling before Wufei, who held knives in his hand. "You shouldn't have betrayed us, 02," Wufei said simply, "We gave you a chance to serve the greater good."

"And what would that be?" Duo asked sarcastically.

"That is for me to know," Wufei said simply as he took aim with another knife. "Pawns don't need to know the master plan; they just need to follow orders."

Duo grimaced as he unbuttoned the strap over his handgun and tossed it at Wufei's feet. "Damn it," Duo muttered as Wufei checked the safety and pocketed the gun.

Heero didn't rush out to help Duo--that would just result in Wufei throwing a knife at him--instead he remained halfway down the corridor and watched to see how Duo fared. He readied his gun just in case he had to take Wufei out. He didn't want to kill his comrades--they were the only true friends he had after all--though he would stop them from killing each other. He watched as Wufei forced Duo to his feet at knife point and directed him inside the center control room.

Heero waited until the door slid closed behind Wufei and Duo and slipped into the air vents. He started the air system in his space suit just to be sure that he wouldn't run out of air while crawling through the vents and followed the general direction towards the control room. The air was sufficient as he came to a grid where he could see Duo, tied to a chair in the far corner of the room as Wufei moved about the room. Heero realized after a minute or so of watching that he was setting the abandoned colony to self-detonate after five minutes. _Guess they don't want any witnesses,_ Heero thought sourly as he removed the grill. He waited until Wufei was directly beneath him and jumped down, sending the two of them sprawling to the ground.

"Heero, Wufei's being controlled by them!" Duo shouted as he tried to undo the knots in the rope around his wrists. Heero took his gun out of its holster and aimed it at Wufei's head. "Heero, don't shoot!" Duo said in alarm.

He waited until Wufei started to shake before he darted behind Wufei and struck him at the base of the skull with the butt of his gun. Wufei staggered from the blow to the back of his head and Heero seized his opportunity to pin his arms behind his back. "Did you honestly think I was going to shoot?" Heero asked Duo irritably as he cuffed Wufei's hands behind his back. He looked around the room for something to disable Wufei's implant as he struggled below him. He found the transmitter for the radio waves and decided that he needed to disable Wufei's chip before he fried the transmitter.

"Hold still," Heero said to Wufei as he went to Duo and started to untie his friend. "You might want to wrap your wound," Heero said to Duo. He went to the main computer panel and started typing furiously to try and disable the self-destruct. "Duo, start getting ready to disengage," Heero instructed his friend, "We have to leave soon or else we'll be blown to bits. Take Wufei and start getting the shuttle ready to leave."

Duo hesitated as he wrapped a strip from Wufei's shirt around the knife in his shoulder, "Heero, we need to head out," Duo said to him, "Can't we just let this place blow up?"

"So long as we're all on this colony when it blows, the master will be happy," came a raspy voice from down the hall. The hair on the back of Heero's neck prickled unpleasantly as he turned to face the man he had met outside the shuttle port on his first trip to L2 to see Relena. "I want all of you to die," he growled angrily as he gripped a detonator in his hand tightly, "That way the master can put his plan in motion."

Heero grit his teeth as Duo went to Wufei, "We're not going to give up," Heero said simply, "We're not just going to let you kill us just because your master wants us to die." _ I promised Relena that I would come back to her,_ he thought to himself quietly, _I don't want to break my promise to her._ He took his gun out of his holster once again, clicked the safety off his gun and took aim at the man's head.

The man grinned, "I thought that we've already gone through this?" he said to Heero as he showed Heero the detonator in his hand. "I don't care whether I live or die, so go ahead and shoot me, Heero Yuy."

Heero could see the annoyance that he was feeling written all over Duo's face, "You're one crazy bastard," Duo muttered as he knocked Wufei out with a well placed punch. "Heero, I'll leave him to you."

Heero nodded slightly as he focused his glare on the man in front of him. He focused his aim on the detonator. _Shooting the thing out of his hand is my only hope,_ he thought sourly.

The man's grin grew wider as he realized Heero's plan. "Shooting the detonator will blow the both of us to smithereens," he said simply, "So, Gundam Pilot, would you like to plead for your life, run away, or try to face your death in the face?"

Heero didn't hesitated and shot the man in the shoulder, making him drop the detonator. Heero held his breath, but there were no echoes of explosions ringing out. He waited a full minute until he released his breath and glared at the man. "It's over," he growled, "You're not going to have it your way this time."

The man gripped his shoulder, crouched on one knee in front of Heero. "You never give up, do you Lee?" he whispered quietly and Heero's neck hair prickled once again. "You served the master as I did. You should be glad to die for him."

"Who in the hell are you?" Heero demanded, "And how do you know my name?"

"I erased your name," he whispered, "You were the perfect soldier…" His face contorted as he dug his fingers into his bullet wound. "Until you met that witch… That witch ruined my perfect soldier…"

Heero's hand faltered as he stared at the wretched man kneeling before him. He seemed to be somewhat familiar, though he couldn't quite place the wretch. "I don't know any alcoholics," he spat in disgust.

The man smiled ruefully, "It was never this bad," he said softly, "When your mother died, things got hard…"

"What do you know about my mother?" Heero demanded as he pulled back the hammer on the gun and listened to it click in to place.

The man's bloodshot eyes saddened, "Don't you know me?" he asked softly, "Don't you remember me at the lab? You were so young when Doctor J found you on our home colony…"

"I don't," Heero said pointedly as he forced himself to steady his hand. "All I know is that you are trying to destroy this place and we're running out of time."

The man shuddered, "My name is Yannick Kodora," he said softly, "I worked with Doctor J."

"K-Kodora?" Heero stammered as he eased the hammer down, "You're related to me?" Heero was in shock and awe as he looked at the shaking man on the floor. He had the same type of fly-away hair that Heero had, the same shade of brown, and the same deep, piercing blue eyes. "You're…"

Yannick nodded, "I'm your father, Lee," he said softly, "Kill me, please…"

* * *

Evil Author Laugh Nice little twist if I do say so myself... I'm kind of upset that I'm not getting that many reviews on this fic, it's my best one to date. :( Please review and make me happy? That way I can post the next chapter faster and the cliff hanger can disappear faster. :D

Comet01 - Thank you very much for your input, I try my best to keep the ball rolling on this since I haven't written on it in over 3 years :D


	17. Parting is such bitter sorrow

Yannick nodded, "I'm your father, Lee," he said softly, "Kill me, please…"

**Somewhere I Belong**  
**Chapter 16**  
_Parting is such bitter sorrow_  
By: Miguela

"Fa-father?" Heero asked in confusion as he clicked the safety back on his gun as a habit and stuck it back in his holster, "But why?"

"Because I have the implant," Yannick said simply, "Deikim has been controlling me since I gave you up. He knew that my mind-controlling software could be put to use. I put a back door into it that in case he used it against me, I wouldn't be able to hurt you. I can see he's perfected it since he started using me as his puppet."

"So all this time, you never told me?" Heero was starting to get angrier the more the conversation progressed, "You knew all along that I had family but you didn't tell me?"

"Believe me, I had no choice in the matter," Yannick said desperately, "Lee, the chip is completely fused with me now, it can't be removed. Chang Wufei and Quatre Winner will be okay, but we have to destroy this colony. This is where the software is, it needs to be destroyed."

Heero checked the timer on the self-detonation as he went to his father, "We still have a minute and a half left, we can get out on time," Heero said as he slung his father's arm around his shoulders, "We can still make it if we leave now."

Yannick shook his head. The older Japanese man pushed away from Heero's help and stumbled slightly to one of the consoles. "You need to get out of here," Yannick said, "Listen to me Lee; it's too late to save me. I want you to get out of here alive. I don't want you to die pointlessly here, do you understand me? Your mother gave her life giving birth to you, and I will give mine so that you make it out of this wretched place alive. You have less than a minute now, so go. I'll see if I can slow the destruction of this place." Heero looked askance of his father but he was stern, "Go Lee, we have less than a minute now," Yannick said firmly. Blood dripped down his arm steadily. "The blast will come from this room, so you just might be able to escape it unharmed." He gripped Heero's shoulder firmly and shoved him in the direction of the door, "I'm not going to ask again, Lee, now go!"

Heero was thrown out of the room and the door slid shut in front of him. "No, Yannick!" Heero called as he pushed off the wall and went back to the door, "Yannick, open the door, the both of us can still escape!"

Duo's voice came over the com link in his helmet, "Lee, we have to get out of here!" he said desperately, "What are you still fooling around for, we have to leave, now!"

He pressed the button close to his temple on the helmet to reply, "Duo, I can't leave him," he said desperately as he banged on the door.

"Heero, what would Relena say to you if she heard you talking like this?" Duo demanded angrily through the com link, "Get your ass in the ship so we can leave before this whole colony blows!"

Heero gasped as a small explosion rang out, sending small bits of shrapnel to dig into his right arm. "Damn it," he cursed under his breath as he gripped the little bits of glass and metal that had embedded in his arm. "Father, please, just come with me!"

"Good bye, Lee," he heard a faint voice from behind the thick metal door. "Marry that girl you're so fond of…"

Another explosion rang out and jerked Heero back into the wall, causing him to bash his head off the wall. Slightly dazed, Heero pushed off the wall, stealing one last glace backwards at the steel door that had separated him from his father, whom he had known but briefly. Smaller explosions were ringing out now all around him as the primary sub systems started to detonate. He started to pull himself along the corridors to bring him back to where they had docked the shuttle.

"Duo, are you guys ready to leave?" Heero asked and winced as a large piece of metal embedded itself in his leg.

"Get your ass in here and we can leave," Duo said to him urgently.

Heero felt another large piece of shrapnel enter his side and tried to move faster. He could see the shuttle dock now, just a little more… A large explosion rang out, coming from the center of the colony and spreading outward. Heero swung himself around and took out his gun, and fired a bullet so the recoil would propel him faster than his arms would. He shot into the shuttle and collided with the communication console. The door slammed shut behind him and Duo undocked from the colony.

"Hang on!" Duo yelled as he slammed on the propulsion system which shot the three of them away from the colony at break neck speed.

Heero gazed at the colony as it exploded, sending shrapnel at their shuttle. He gripped the console he had slammed into and held on as the shuttle rode the shockwave for a short way before the engines cut and they were drifting. Heero sighed as he sank down into the chair that had been previously occupied by Wufei on their trip to the now destroyed colony and put his head in his hands.

_God damn it all,_ he thought bitterly, _Just a few inches, it wasn't far, and I could've saved him. Why is that I can never save the people that I wanted to save the most? I couldn't save him…_

He heard foot steps behind him but he didn't bother to look over to see who it was. "Lee?" Duo asked quietly, "Hey man, looks like we might be stuck out here for a while. The engine was busted in that explosion. Could you radio back to L2 and ask if they could send someone to pick us up."

"Yeah, sure," Heero muttered as he removed his helmet. His right arm, left thigh and right side were bleeding profusely, though Duo seemed to have enough sense not to ask if he was okay. Heero put the call through, requesting an ambulance for Wufei be prepared. He thought that that he would need an ambulance as well with the way he was loosing blood. He looked down at his arm and started to pick out the shrapnel. "Duo, could you get me the first aid kit?" Heero asked in his monotone.

"Uh, sure," Duo replied as he went to the front of the shuttle and returned with the little kit. "Man, do you want some help? You're bleedin'"

Heero shrugged as he set the pieces of shrapnel aside that he had picked out of his shoulder. His thoughts were racing, trying to remember the man he knew briefly as Yannick Kodora, his father. He vaguely remembered a man trailing after Deikim Barton, who strutted around the lab as though he were king, and demanded that Heero complete several difficult scenarios. He was about the same height that Heero was now, shaggy brown hair and vague blue eyes. Heero sighed quietly to himself, _Deikim had him even then,_ he realized as he started to clean out his arm with disinfectant.

Heero was so deep in his own thoughts that he didn't realize that Duo had started to clean his leg until Duo gripped the shrapnel and jerked it out of his leg. Heero stiffened in surprised and gasped slightly as Duo set the piece aside. "Man, that thing was in there a ways," Duo exclaimed as he pressed bandages to his friend's leg. "You're looking a little pale, Lee."

"It's nothing," Heero replied as he stripped off his space suit and started to bandage his shoulder. "I'll call back to L2 and find out where the shuttle is."

Duo frowned but shrugged, "Still as stubborn as ever," he muttered as he went to go and check on Wufei.

Heero removed the remaining shrapnel, bandaged the wounds, and pulled on another space suit, one that didn't have any holes, and relaxed. He thought back about his father and that set his mind to drifting back over every mission he had, every person he had killed, every person he missed…

"Heero!" Duo screamed in his ear, making him jerk and nearly slide out of his seat.

"What?" Heero asked in irritation as he glared at his friend and rubbed his ear, "You didn't need to scream you know."

"Man, I've been trying to talk to you for the last twenty minutes," Duo said in a huff. "The shuttle radioed while you were lost in thought and said that they would be here in about an hour, which is probably another 40 minutes since I've been screaming at you."

"And why didn't you just shake me like you usually do?" Heero muttered as he sat back in his seat and checked the radar.

"Because I was afraid you were going to bite me or something," Duo muttered, "You were snarling."

Heero leaned back in his chair and watched the radar for the remaining time he was stuck in the little ship with Wufei and Duo. The air on the ship was getting thinner as their systems started to shut down. Heero helped Duo get Wufei into a suit, though the two of them ended up bashing Wufei's head off the control boards quite a few times, though Heero wasn't sure if Duo was doing it by accident or on purpose. He winced every time a piece of stray shrapnel collided with the ship and jarred the occupants. Duo was starting to go crazy when a shuttle from the Preventers base on L2. Sally Poe was onboard and she smirked as she and four other Preventers boarded the small shuttle.

"What did you three get yourselves into?" she asked them as she looked at Heero. "Lee, you're as pale as a ghost, what happened?"

Heero gestured to the pile of pieces of shrapnel that was floating close by. "The colony has been destroyed," Heero informed her, "I need to speak to Lady Une on the matter." He unbuckled himself from the chair and floated up out of the seat. "Take a look at Wufei and get that little chip out of him."

Two of the Preventers' officers came to Heero's aid but he waved them off, "Take Chang Wufei," he said to them, "I'll meet you guys in the air lock on the other shuttle."

"Lee Kodora, you're just as stubborn as ever," he heard a familiar voice scold him. Relena came into the ship, followed by two Preventers' guards.

They saluted Sally when they boarded the ship and sent dirty looks at Relena, "She slipped by us Ma'am, sorry," one of them explained to Sally.

Relena went to Heero and took his shoulders, making Heero wince slightly as she gripped his injured shoulder. "Why didn't you tell me that you were going on a mission?" Relena demanded, "You could've gotten hurt or killed, and you didn't even tell me?"

"Now isn't a good time, Relena," Heero said to her gruffly as he removed her hand from his sore shoulder, "I thought you had meetings to attend?"

"I couldn't go to meetings with old farts while you were out here risking your life," Relena said to him impatiently, "Duo said that you were hurt and I came with Sally to see for myself why you would do something so idiotic as staying inside a colony that was going to self destruct."

Heero stole a glace at Duo and gave him a fierce glare as he took Relena's shoulders gently, "Relena, I'm not sure what happened on that colony, but once I figure it out for myself, I'll see if I can explain it to you," he said to her gently, "Now, I need to talk to Lady Une and I need to do some research."

Sally gathered the pieces of shrapnel that Heero had removed by himself and put them in a bag to be analyzed. The other Preventers helped Duo and Wufei board the other ship. Heero gazed in the direction of where the colony had been destroyed and Relena wrapped her arm around his waist.

"Lee, you're pale," Relena said to him softly, "What happened to you?"

"I'll explain that once we get to the shuttle," he said to her gently though he let her direct him to the shuttle. He was too engrossed in his own thoughts to float in a straight line.

They entered the airlock chamber, where air flooded the space once the doors were closed and the occupants were able to remove their helmets.

"Let me take a look at you, Lee," Sally said to him gently as Relena steered him to the closest seat to the door and sat him down as she sat beside him. Heero didn't fight her as Sally and Relena stripped the suit down to his waist. Sally sighed quietly over the impromptu bandaging job he had done on his side and his shoulder. "You did a pretty good job though," she said as she started to peel away the temporary bandages and stitch up the deep wounds. She washed away the blood from his wound and Heero started to tremble uncontrollably.

_What's the matter with me?_ Heero thought in frustration as Relena gripped his hand tightly, _Why am I shaking so much?_

Sally gripped his shoulders and forced the seat back so Heero could lean back. "Rest," she said to him firmly, "Relena, make sure that he doesn't get up."

Heero brought a shaking hand up before his eyes and watched his fingers twitch uncontrollably, "Why?" he asked quietly, "I was fine for an hour, why now?"

"Maybe because you lost so much blood," Duo said sarcastically as he sorted through the end of his braid. "You were just sitting there bleeding when you got in the shuttle. What were you going on about earlier anyway? Who is Yannick and why did you call him 'father'?"

"It's a long story Duo," Heero muttered as he balled his shaking hand into a fist and set it down on the arm rest, "I'll tell you when the world stops spinning."

He felt a gentle hand press to his forehead, which increased his dizziness momentarily and Relena gasped in alarm. "He's burning up," she said in worry, "Sally, his temperature spiked."

He gripped her hand and pulled it away from his face as he closed his eyes, "I just need some sleep," he said to her gently, "I'll be fine in the morning." His hand shook as it gripped Relena's slender fingers.

"Sally, he's delirious," Relena said in worry as a cold cloth was placed on his face and a second one was placed on his neck. "What should we do? He's lost so much blood, and he's so pale…"

Heero fell unconscious in the shuttle with Relena's hand gripped tightly.

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No one like my last chapter:( I really need reviews people, I'm almost done this story, maybe another 2 chapters or so to go, but I need your input 


	18. Relena x Heero

Heero fell unconscious in the shuttle with Relena's hand gripped tightly.

**Somewhere I Belong**

**Chapter 17**

_Relena x Heero_

By: Miguela

Heero slowly came to his senses and the first thing he noticed was he could smell disinfectants that were common with hospitals. He groaned as he opened his eyes slowly. He was in the Preventers' hospital again and shook his head.

_Why can't I keep from being injured?_ he thought bitterly as he looked around the room to find it empty. There were several IVs in his arms, which he didn't feel safe removing at the moment as his hands still shook, and the steady beep of the heart rate monitor next to him was starting to drive him crazy. He noticed also that a blanket had been draped over the couch. _She was here,_ he thought as he looked at the couch and saw that it looked as though it had been slept on. _Relena needs to start concentrating on her job if she wants to be president._

He heard the lock click and Relena entered the room, her hair tousled and her eyes bleary and sleep-deprived as she carried a laptop and a mug of coffee. As soon as her eyes met Heero's, she dropped her mug of coffee in surprise and yelped as it burned her toes. Heero smiled slightly as she hopped over to a chair and examined her burned toes.

"Why is it that you keep surprising me?" Relena demanded as she set down the laptop and pulled off her socks and pitched them to the couch to examine her toes. "It never fails."

"Yeah, sorry," he said to her gently as he looked at her toes, which were starting to blister from the coffee burns. "Let me see your toes, Relena." Relena placed her feet on the side of Heero's bed and Heero grabbed the cloth that was on his end table and wrapped it around Relena's burned toes. "There you are," he said to her gently, "Maybe you should just take it easy for today; you look like you haven't slept in weeks."

Relena sighed quietly as she nodded, "I know," she mumbled as she rubbed the cloth on her blistered toes, "I was just worried." Her eyes were downcast and Heero couldn't figure out what was making her upset.

"How long have I been asleep?" he asked her gently as he moved closer to her so he could rub her feet comfortingly.

"I don't know," Relena said vaguely, "About three days now, I've lost track of the days."

Heero looked at her in surprise, "Relena, are you sure you're okay?" he asked her gently.

She shook her head, "So much has happened," she muttered as she ran her fingers through her hair, "I don't know where to start even."

"How about we start where I left off?" he suggested gently, "What's all been happening? Come and sit with me and tell me all about it." He moved so Relena could climb up onto the bed with him. _If this relationship is going to work, communication needs to go both ways,_ Heero thought to himself, _If she has a concern, or something bothering her, I want to know about it._ He sat up slowly.

Relena placed her head on his shoulder gently as she brought her knees to her chest. "Well, once we got back to L2, we were notified that the ESUN council has decided to run on a completely democratic system where no one person has complete authority. This will keep the whole system balanced between earth and the colonies so no disputes could come up." Heero wrapped an arm around Relena's waist gently, rubbing her thigh as she relaxed in his embrace. "When Halen Chambers found out that he was running a campaign for nothing, he kind of freaked out. He attacked his staff and killed two Preventers and then took his own life. We haven't gotten the autopsy report yet to find out why he freaked out so badly."

Heero nodded to her comments and when she was done, he kissed her forehead, "So, how do you feel about not being president of the ESUN?" he asked her gently.

"Relieved," she said honestly, "I was under so much pressure from this and I realized that there are more important things right now for me. My bit in Politics is finished for now."

Heero looked at her in concern, "What do you mean?" he asked her gently, "I thought seeing a peaceful world was your dream?"

"My dream has already become reality, though it wasn't my doing," she said to him and smiled, "It's all your doing."

She didn't elaborate and Heero didn't ask. He lay back on the pillows and pulled Relena with him. He was careful of his various wounds and made sure that Relena didn't accidentally touch them. "What will you do now?" he asked her gently as he ran his fingers through her hair, "I'm sure that you'll not want to be idle."

"Well, I was thinking about getting a house out on L1," she said casually, "Maybe have a certain ex-Gundam pilot move in, I'm not really sure."

Heero cocked his head to the side and considered her, "Are you inviting or demanding?" he asked her softly as he placed his chin on top of her head.

"I'm always inviting," she replied with a smile and Heero proceeded to tickle her for the comment.

"Who would've thought that Relena Darlian had a sick mind?" he asked her with a smirk, "So long as I have complete control in the kitchen, I'll move in with you. The only thing I ask is that I can keep my job at the Preventers."

"You can do whatever your heart fancies," Relena replied with a smile, "I learned that you have to give someone some space, even when you do love them, or else you'll suffocate them."

"That sounds like pretty good advice to me," he said to her as he rubbed her thigh. "God, how I've missed you, Relena," he whispered to her gently as he closed his eyes.

"I missed you too, Heero," she said to him as she started to play with his fly-away hair. "What do you think about going house shopping once Sally clears you? I've had my eye on a few places, though they're not the greatest looking."

"We can fix them up," Heero said simply as he started to put little braids in Relena's hair. "Are your toes feeling better?"

Relena looked down at her toes and shrugged, "They'll be okay," she said to him as she looked back at him playfully, "It would probably make them better if you kissed them."

She stuck her tongue out at him as he winced, "No, I don't think kissing your smelly feet is on my list of things to do," he said to her teasingly.

Relena smiled as she turned so that she was facing him, "Maybe we should change the bandages on your shoulder and that," she suggested as he sat up slowly and checked for himself. They had stitched his side closed easily though his shoulder and leg, being much more damaged than his side, were still bleeding a little even though he had been lying in bed for three days.

"Maybe we should," he said to her as he started to pick at the bandages on his shoulder to take a look for himself but Relena pulled his hand away carefully.

"Leave it be this time," she said to him gently, "I'll go and get Sally, and if you're good, I'll bring you back your MP3 player."

"Relena, I need my laptop," he said to her, "I have to research that colony."

She shook her head, "You're on strict bed rest, you're lucky that I'm going to get you the MP3 player," she said to him firmly as she stood, "You gave us all one heck of a scare when you stopped breathing on the shuttle. I don't want you getting stressed again over this."

"Relena, please, I have to know," he said to her as he started to pull the blankets so he could try to reach the laptop that was at the foot of the bed. "Please Relena, I have to know more about that man, it's been driving me crazy."

Relena gave him a puzzled look, "What man? Is it that man that you and Duo were talking about on the shuttle, the one you called your father?" she asked him. She took his shoulders gently and made sure that he would remain in bed.

"He told me that his name was Yannick Kodora," Heero said to her, "He said that he was my father so I want to know more about him."

Relena sighed as she handed him the laptop, "Make it quick," she said to him, "The battery isn't going to last very long on that, so hurry before it dies."

Heero smiled slightly at her, "Thanks," he said to her as he set the laptop down on the bedside table and started to type. He searched every database of every colony that had ever been in existence as he searched for any trace of his family name.

He finally found Yannick Kodora, who had been a brilliant scientist back on earth. Before he had married in AC 173, he moved to the colonies to pursue a lead on a career in mind control. He had studied under another scientist who was only known as Doctor J to the world—Heero winced as he saw the name—and had become very successful in the art of manipulating people's thoughts and using them against them. In the years leading up to the death of the colonist leader Heero Yuy, Yannick had performed several unsuccessful experiments on trying to control the minds of creatures. Some of the birds he was trying to control leaked out into the public and Yannick's experiments were terminated for the time being as he moved back to Japan for personal reasons.

Yannick married in the AC 173 to Lily Botan of Nagasaki, Japan. Yannick and his wife moved from Nagasaki to Colony L1 in AC 177, two years after Heero Yuy had been assassinated. Yannick then started to pursue his scientific interest with increased zest as he took on a partner with the Barton Foundation so he would get the funding he needed for his experiments. What Yannick had proposed was to strip people of their free will and be able to control people like convicts and soldiers. He was denounced from the scientific community in AC 179, around the same time that his wife got sick, and he was forced to into hiding in order to continue his research.

There wasn't any mention of Yannick until three years after he had gone in to hiding, and it had announced that his wife and son had been killed in the cross fire between the Alliance and rebels on their home colony. Yannick was still missing, presumed dead at the time. There wasn't any more mention of Yannick Kodora or Lee Kodora on any record there after.

Heero sighed as he closed the laptop screen down and lay back in bed. _Now I know,_ he thought bitterly, _I have no idea what possessed him to try and manipulate people though. Why would you want to bring hatred upon yourself like that?_ "It makes no sense," he muttered aloud, and Relena looked at him quizzically as she put ice on her toes.

"Did you find your answers, Lee?" she asked him gently as she set the ice aside and came to his bed side. "Did you find out if he was your father or not?"

"I found a colony record which outlined his life for a short span," Heero explained to her, "Though I don't like what it says." He opened the laptop again and showed Relena the article, which she read silently and frowned.

"We don't have the luxury of picking our relatives," Relena said to him as she closed the laptop and pulled the table away from the bedside. "It doesn't mention him trying it out on anyone though."

"No, but he had the intention to," Heero said to her bitterly, "Yannick Kodora was obsessed with controlling people, makes me wonder what type of man he actually was."

Relena nodded silently, "Maybe one day you'll have the chance to find out," she said to him gently, "Lee, it doesn't matter what bad things your parents did, all that matters is what you are doing with your life, right? You can't beat yourself up over a mistake that your father made."

"No, but the mistake beat me up pretty good," Heero muttered sarcastically.

Relena smiled slightly as she kissed him, "You're still my Gundam Pilot," she said to him gently as she sat beside him, "That won't change."

Heero smiled at her slightly as he wrapped an arm around her waist gently. "So, I had an epiphany earlier," he said to Relena casually as he lay in bed with Relena beside him, "And I've got a few things I would like to discuss with you, Miss Darlian."

Relena giggled gently as his tone got formal with her. "And what would that be, Mr. Kodora?" she asked him gently as she leaned against his good shoulder gently.

"I would like to try another relationship with you," he said to her quietly, "Since the immediate threat of the Black Wolves is over and you're out of politics and I'm going to get out of this hospital sometime in the next week, I want to show you how much you mean to me." He was now embarrassed since he was discussing his feelings openly and honestly with Relena. He looked down at his feet as a light blush crept over his cheeks—he prayed that Duo wouldn't come barging in yet. "While I was in that colony, the only thing that kept me going was the knowledge that you were waiting for me back home. On every mission, the strongest driving force for me to complete them is the fact that you are waiting for me to return."

He took a peek at her face and found that she wasn't laughing at him; rather she was listening intently to his confession and letting him speak. When he didn't continue, she took his hand gently between both of hers and held it tightly. "Lee, I didn't know that you felt so strongly," she said to him gently. "Though I wasn't joking when I said I would move to L1."

He was startled by her words. "Really?" he asked her gently as he stroked her knuckles with his thumb. "You really want to give this another shot?"

"Of course," she said to him with a smile. "I promise to not be as inhospitable as I was before; if you have a problem or a concern or if you just want to talk, my door is always open." She hugged him awkwardly with one arm and then seemed hesitant. "Though if you don't want to take me back because of what I said, I won't blame you," she said quietly.

He moved his and out of her grip and took her chin in his strong hands and carefully tilted her head up to look up at him. "Relena, I'm not going to be as insensitive to your feelings as I was before," he said to her gently. "I know that we all get frustrated and overworked from time to time. Maybe we'll get a pet this time around to relieve some stress in our lives, how does that sound?" He smiled at her gently as he pecked her lips timidly.

She stiffened in his grip but he wasn't sure if it was because of surprise or disgust. The stiffness didn't last long as he pulled away from her and she chased after him as she wrapped her arms around his neck. He smiled at her warmly as he hugged her gently. "I love you," Relena whispered, "And I definitely want to give this another try."

His smile widened, "As do I," he said with a smile.

The door crashed open and Relena and Heero jerked towards the shocked stares coming from the doorway. Quatre and Duo stared at the two of them in awe and then Duo's stunned face melted into a wide grin. "I knew it!" he yelled happily as he skipped into the room. "Should have known you two wouldn't wait too long to get back together."

Heero scowled though it didn't reach his eyes, which were still twinkling in joy from Relena's acceptance of him. "Who invited you in here anyway?" he asked and Duo snorted.

"I don't need an invite," he said simply as he sat down at the foot of the bed and Quatre went over to stand near Relena.

"I'm so happy you two are back together," Quatre said to Relena with a smile, "Though I agree with Duo; it was pretty obvious that you two were going to "kiss and make up"." He winked at Heero, "When's the wedding?"

"Wedding?" Duo demanded excitedly and Heero could see he wasn't going to weasel out of this conversation anytime soon. "Really? You proposed?!"

"No Duo, I didn't," Heero said flatly but Duo was now talking to Relena excitedly about planning a double wedding with him and Hilde and he groaned. "Duo, I didn't propose!" he said to his overzealous friend, "We're going to try having a relationship first before I propose."

Relena was giggling again as Duo and Quatre were now making wedding plans on their behalf. Heero sighed and gave up trying to tell them otherwise. He lay back in bed and pulled Relena to lay her head on his chest. "There's no arguing," she said to him with a smile, "I guess we'll have to get married some day."

"Can it not be tomorrow?" he asked her hopefully and she nodded with a smile.

"Let's try to get through living together first," she suggested as she pulled a blanket up around them. "All right you two," she said to Duo and Quatre with a smile, "How about you two make wedding plans somewhere other than here? Lee has to get some rest and so do you two."

Quatre agreed and he gently steered Duo back towards his own room so that they could continue the scheme to get Heero and Relena together permanently. Heero sighed in relief as he nuzzled into Relena's hair. "Thanks," he whispered to her tiredly, "I really appreciate that."

"You're welcome," she said to him gently, "Do you want me to let you sleep?"

"How about you just stay here with me?" he suggested as he wrapped his strong arms around her securely. "I just want to be sure that this is real and that when I wake up again, I didn't just dream the whole thing."

She smiled at him gently, "Sure," she said to him with a smile, pecked his cheek, and the two of them settled into the hospital bed as best they could to get some sleep.

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**Author's Note**

Sorry it's taken so long! I've got my own personal story that I'm working on besides this one and this one kind of took a back burner for a while. One more chapter and (depending on what kind of reviews I get *nod nod, wink wink, say no more*) I will be starting a sequel to this story.


	19. Epilogue

"How about you just stay here with me?" he suggested as he wrapped his strong arms around her securely. "I just want to be sure that this is real and that when I wake up again, I didn't just dream the whole thing."

She smiled at him gently, "Sure," she said to him with a smile, pecked his cheek, and the two of them settled into the hospital bed as best they could to get some sleep.

**Somewhere I Belong**

**Chapter 18**

_Epilogue_

By: Miguela

Heero walked home, his laptop bag slung over one shoulder, and was whistling quietly to himself. He greeted a few pedestrians in his neighbourhood cheerily as he tucked three single roses under his arm so that he could get to his keys. It was his and Relena's three month anniversary and he wanted to remind her that his feelings for her hadn't changed in the least.

The three bedroom house that they had purchased in the neighbourhood of the Preventers branch, where he had resumed work as the administrator, was shaping up nicely. The old brick in the front of the house had had the old white paint sanded off and was replaced with a light glaze to accent the sand coloured stones outlining the outcropping window seat in their living room and very light wood for the rest of the siding. Relena was out planting flowers along the walkway that lead up from the curb to the small porch on the front of the house. She smiled at him warmly as she wiped dirt from her face, which resulted in a very large smear across her nose and one cheek.

Heero laughed gently as he presented the roses to her. "To commemorate our three month anniversary," he said to her as she looked at him in confusion. Her smile widened as he pecked her cheek. "Did you have fun with your flowers today?"

"There's something calming about gardening," she said to him happily as she smelled the sweetness of the roses. "By the way, Trevor is going crazy in the entrance way."

Heero gazed over to his front door, which was open, and he could see the puppy that Relena had gotten him for their first month anniversary wagging his tail happily and barking enthusiastically. He had named the pup Trevor since no other names popped in his head that would be suitable for a male dog. "Calm down Trevor," Heero called to the puppy. "It's just me."

Trevor started whining when Heero didn't move fast enough to let the dog outside. He ran over the grass, stumbling as his paws were much too big in relation to the rest of his body, and started to lick Heero's hand and rub up against him.

"How was work?" Relena asked him lightly as she went into the kitchen to add the roses to a vase of tulips she had already on the counter top. "Lady Une called earlier today to tell me to remind you that you have three days mandatory vacation coming up," Relena added as Heero spied the note that had been taped next to the vid-phone with that exact message.

"So, what are we going to do for my days off?" Heero asked her as he stripped off his preventer's jacket and hung it up in the closet. Trevor had his head between Heero's knees as he tried to get at the shoes in the closet.

"I was thinking about a romantic night out," Relena said to him with a smirk as she came back from the kitchen with the smears of dirt cleaned from her face. She pecked his lips again. "How about dinner and a movie for the first night at least?"

"I could help you with the gardening the next day," Heero said to her gently as he hugged her. Trevor wedged himself between them so he could feel like he was part of the embrace. "I'm sure that we could find lots of things to do."

"Or we could do nothing at all," Relena suggested slyly. "Really, the possibilities are endless."

"I agree," he said with a light chuckle. Heero actually had a relative plan formed for his days off though they were last minute. He had placed a call to Duo and Hilde and invited them over so that they could share in the fun. Duo had agreed exuberantly and told Heero that they would be on the first flight there that morning. He pecked Relena's nose gently. "What's for supper?" he asked her casually as he let her go reluctantly and dug in his laptop bag for his laptop and a small box, which he slipped in his pocket before Relena could see.

"Well, I found a good recipe for sushi," she said to him with a smile as she went into the kitchen, "But apparently my culinary skills haven't improved any; it tasted so awful even Trevor wouldn't eat it. I ordered us some from the restaurant down the road."

Heero chuckled to himself as he went into the kitchen as Relena was serving. He fingered the little velveteen box in his pocket and decided he would wait for the perfect moment to whisk the object into sight. It had been Duo and Quatre's nudging that had gotten him this far, he might as well go the whole way.

Supper was quiet with Trevor begging at his feet while he and Relena had a comfortable meal from the takeout sushi. "I think I'm going to enrol in a cooking class," Relena was saying as she poked at the sushi with her chopsticks, "I knew I would have to start fending for myself at some point; I guess having someone cook and clean for you doesn't prepare you for those kinds of experiences."

Heero chuckled gently, "I'll show you how to cook," he assured her gently, "It's not too hard, I promise. You just have to think about one thing at a time. Once you've gotten that down pat, that's when you start working on a couple of things at once. You don't become a pro overnight."

She stuck her tongue out at him and smiled sheepishly. "Mr. I-can-do-anything to the rescue," she said to him teasingly as she ate her sushi.

After the meal was done, Heero got dessert and then slid closer to Relena instead of sitting across from her. "There was something I wanted to talk to you about," he said to her casually as he served her shaved ice. "And I want to know your honest answer."

Relena was confused as Heero produced the little box from his pocket to present it to her. She gasped in surprise as he showed her the little ring he had gotten her. It was a slender band of white gold with a medium sized sapphire surrounded by smaller diamonds. He presented the ring to her as she covered her mouth in surprise, a swell of emotions playing in her eyes.

"Relena, I know that we've only been together for a short time, but to me, it feels as though we've been together all our lives," he said to her gently as he took her hand. "Will you marry me?"

She nodded vigorously though she couldn't seem to find her voice as Heero slid the ring home on her ring finger of her left hand before she flung her arms around his neck exuberantly. He smiled as he hugged her in return as she started to weep.

The End.... Until next time

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**Author's note**

That's it for this one! My first complete story! *Cheers and applause* And now you know why I want to write a sequel :P The more response I get, the more motivation I get.


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